Oyster
Catcher:
UK Status: Resident,
numbers bolstered in winter by migrants..
Habitat: Oyster Catches are
mainly coastal in Ireland, but in Scotland, Wales and England come much
further inland, except for great swathes of the midlands and the south.
Their diet varies greatly depending on whether they are inland, or on
the coast. Shellfish, insects, worms and gastropods are a most important
part of their diet, hence the name Oyster Catcher.
Breeding: This bird
nests in a scrape on the ground, usually with good all round visibility.
Nests are sometimes lined with some kind of vegetation, and quite often
with no lining at all. Nesting is only attempted once each year, and if
the nest fails they won't try again until the following year. Two to
four eggs are laid during the summer months, and the eggs are very
ovular, and vary from grey through to olive or brown, with darker
blotches and speckling.
Comment: In the British
Isles there are about ninety five, to ninety six thousand breeding
pairs. Numbers are much increased in the winter by birds coming from
other summer breeding grounds, there can be as many as three hundred and
five thousand birds in the UK.