If your ears are assaulted by the shrill piping calls of an excitable bird on the east coast of England, fear not: it’s probably an oystercatcher experiencing a midlife crisis.
Two of the handsome black and white birds with bright red-orange bills have been found to be the oldest known oystercatchers ever recorded in Britain, clocking up at least 41 and 43 years on the mudflats of the Wash.
The venerable birds were spotted alive and well this winter by volunteer bird surveyors at RSPB Snettisham in Norfolk.
Investigations of the data noted down from their leg rings found that one, 41 years and eight months old, had been ringed as a chick in 1983, probably at the same nature reserve.
The elder bird was discovered a few weeks later and was already at least three years old when fitted with a leg ring in 1982, which could make it as old as 46.
Like many sea and shore birds, oystercatchers can be long-lived and reach their 20s or 30s, but on average they survive for just 12 years.
Jacquie Clark, from the Wash Wader Research Group, a conservation charity which rings birds around the Wash, said: “It was amazing to find the first oystercatcher and confirm it was the UK’s oldest, but we’re even more stunned that it’s all happened again within just a few weeks. To find an even older bird on the Wash is astounding, it just shows how crucial this huge coastal wetland is for these birds.”
These oystercatchers do not live on the Wash all year round but migrate to the region every winter to find safety and reliable food – invertebrates such as ragworms, snails and shellfish – on the mudflats. Wintering sites are likely to have been passed down through generations of oystercatchers.
Jim Scott, the RSPB estate operations manager for the Titchwell Marsh and Snettisham reserves, said: “The Wash is the single most important coastal wetland in the UK for migrating and over-wintering wading birds, ducks and geese, supporting up to 400,000 water birds each year. Up to 26,000 of these are oystercatchers, making the Wash a site of international importance for this species, as it is for many others. The records of these two birds illustrate just how important it is to protect England’s east coast wetlands.”
This article by Patrick Barkham was first published by The Guardian on 24 April 2025. Lead Image: Oystercatchers migrate each year to the Wash – ‘the single most important coastal wetland in the UK for migrating and overwintering’, says Jim Scott of the RSPB. Photograph: Nigel Pye/Alamy.
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