Curlews have been increasing in the last few years at RSPB Rainham Marshes and over a big high tide we sometimes get over 30 birds as they get displaced from their local feeding sites. They do not feed in big groups like Dunlin and Redshank and are quite happy all on their tod, probing the mud with their incredibly long bills.
The females have even longer bills than the males allowing them to extract prey that the males would never reach.
Reckon that this one is a female (les Harrison)
Howard Vaughan, Information Officer