Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus
o. ostralegus
Very
abund. winter visitor and autumn migrant, abundant throughout the summer, has
bred, RI(w)
This colourful and vocal
wader, much loved by local people and professional ornithologists alike is symbolised
as the sites’ logo, appearing everywhere on publications and interpretation
boards. It has been the subject of many
projects and is amongst the longest studied of a single species in the World
revealing fascinating insights into the life of this charismatic bird. A notable discovery was of individual
bill-shapes which differed according to their favoured prey, the mostly male,
mussel-feeding birds have blunt ‘hammer-bills’, the mostly female, worm-feeding
mudflat dwellers have ‘pointed-bills’ and others feeding on cockles have
‘chisel-bills’. Also discovered here is
the high fidelity of these birds returning to the same estuary each winter
which should give these birds added respect for they can live for over 30
years.
Not surprisingly our birding
ancestors remarked upon the presence here of this hard-to-miss species but it
was far less numerous in the 19th century; E. Moore wrote, “not
uncommon near the seashore in small flocks, in winter” and D & M wrote, “It
is rarely common at any time on the south coast [of Devon] but is most
frequently met with in small parties from Aug to Oct, on the seashore or in
estuaries...” ; and goes on to say up to four have been seen here up to
1890. Interestingly, Pidsely wrote,
“The Warren at Exmouth is a favourite locality and a pair seen there in June
1888 were probably breeding.”; an unusual occurrence but perhaps indicating an
increase as D & M later record, “has become more frequent at Exmouth than
formally, as we saw five there 19 Sept 1893 and 12 in a flock 24 Sept
1894.”. Throughout the present century
numbers have swelled to a max of about 300000 wintering in Britain and Ireland
by the early 1990s, some 45% of all those within Europe and the Exe is one of
about 23 estuaries in the UK which are of international or national importance
holding at least 3600 birds.
During every high tide flocks can be found in front of
the hide upon ‘Woodhenge’ and also upon Warren Point according to tide height
and state, weather and disturbance.
Numbers are lowest in June when 500 to 700 non-breeding imms are the
only ones remaining, however by mid-July autumn migrants appear rising to an
annual peak of usually 2500 to 3500 in Oct to Dec with an all time max of 5640
in Dec 1990. Wintering birds leave for
breeding grounds within Britain, Holland, Faeroes and Scandinavia from late-Feb
onwards but spring passage itself is rather light.
Plumage-abnormalities sometimes occur and partial-albinos are noticed most years; a full albino was noted every year 1964 to 1974 and another was present 11 Sept 1980. Canon-netting since the mid 1970s has caught some 1500 birds, those here have originated from the Northern Isles, the Low Countries and Rogaland in Norway.
Table
87: monthly average of max
counts for four 5-year periods *
Mnth |
J
|
F |
M |
A |
M |
J |
J |
A |
S |
O |
N |
D
|
80 - 84 |
2345 |
2080 |
1429 |
873 |
713 |
757.5 |
1277 |
2700 |
3075 |
2822 |
2225 |
2212 |
85 - 89 |
2780 |
2570 |
1936 |
1148 |
962 |
780.4 |
1510 |
3289 |
3595 |
3689 |
3230 |
3302 |
90 - 94 |
2775 |
2999 |
1368 |
755.4 |
650 |
557.6 |
1106 |
3133 |
3602 |
3320 |
3555 |
3702 |
95 - 99 |
2256 |
2190 |
1424 |
653.6 |
531.4 |
504 |
845.4 |
1574 |
2746 |
2175 |
2294 |
2125 |
Table
88: monthly max count for four 5-year periods *
Mnth |
J
|
F |
M |
A |
M |
J |
J |
A |
S |
O |
N |
D
|
80 - 84 |
2688 |
2640 |
2000 |
975 |
695 |
930 |
1548 |
3300 |
3500 |
3400 |
2620 |
2450 |
85 - 89 |
3400 |
3300 |
2750 |
1900 |
1070 |
770 |
1730 |
5000 |
4400 |
4100 |
3550 |
4100 |
90 - 94 |
3380 |
4500 |
1680 |
1150 |
800 |
685 |
1800 |
3985 |
4100 |
4000 |
3900 |
5640 |
95 - 99 |
3386 |
3100 |
2500 |
1000 |
653 |
717 |
1000 |
2000 |
3420 |
4400 |
3200 |
2800 |
* highest monthly fig is in bold