Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)

Catching an oyster doesn’t seem too hard, oysters barely move after all. Perhaps this is the reason that despite its name an oystercatcher barely “catches” oysters at all. Instead choosing the challenge to dine upon mussels and cockles instead. That long red bill of its cracking the shell and allowing it to devour the contents. 

This black and white feathered enemy of shellfish gathers in groups called parcels or stews. You can hear the oystercatchers in Whitstable Bay conversing with each other like this;

“Kleep”
“Klee-eap”
“Weep”
“Ke-beep, ke-beep, ke-beep, ke-beep, kwirrrrrr ee-beep ee-beep ee-beep”
“Kip”
“Pik”

Which is probably oystercatcher for;

“Hey”
“Hello”
“Hungry?”
“Yes, but no more oysters, can’t stand them, yuk. If I see one more oyster, I’m going to scream”
“Mussels?”
“Yeah”.

All those mussels must have  a lot of protein as the oystercatcher is a fairly sizable creature. It weighs as much as 241 table tennis balls, with a wing span of 86cm. 

220,000 oystercatchers are resident in the UK with an extra 120,000 joining them for the winter from Iceland (1,185 miles) and Scandinavia (1,375 miles). But not the Faroe Islands where it is the national bird, tjaldur. Let’s greet the 120,000 migrants with a Swedish hello, hallå, from October until they leave again in April, trevlig resa!, or have a good journey.