Made the most of being on strike yesterday, and while walking along the river clyde, in Uddingston, lanarkshire, about 13 miles from Glasgow city centre, I happend across a pair of oystercatchers sitting on the river bank, occasionally probing the mud for juciy morsels. A group of lesser Black backed gulls consistently tried to shoo them away, without success. These were obviously lanarkshire pystercatchers, and therefore tough guys.
I thought it was pretty unusual to see oystercatchers in a suburban are, fully 50 miles from the nearest coast. In order to get there via the river, they would have hd to travel more than 50 miles up the meandering river, surviving glasgow city centre in the process.
Has anyone else seen osytercatchers ina simmilarly urban or suburban setting, or at least, so far from a coast?
I even love magpies
Some oystercatchers spend a lot of their time inland, I've seen them in the Cairngorms many a time miles from the see and they are becoming a common feature in maby urban areas, even nesting on the roof of some schools! They like areas of grass where they can probe the soil for worms and other invertebrates.
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
We have them in Shropshire, near water (lakes / pools) but a long way from the coast!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
My photos on Flickr
Hi Johnny
I have seen Oystercatchers in some of the most unusual places in my birding life.
Years ago I worked at a large Oil Refinery in Scotland (2002-2003) Quite a lot of Oyster Catchers made the car park their home. There where lots of places for the birds to nest, and they seem to like the concrete Dez Rez.
When the breeding season came the employees where dive bombed while walking across the car park to/from their cars. Sometime it was a bit of bird poo, and a dive bomb at the same time. The employees had their own dive bomb hat to save their hair LOL.
All employees where provided with a special hat by the management of the company with an Oyster catcher as the Logo LOL
As Oyster catchers are protected it was a question of leaving the birds to breed, and live along beside people in their place of employment.
Quite unusual me thinks.
Regards
Kathy and Dave
Hi Kathy, I just love your story. Oyster catchers are known to go inland to breed. When we lived on the coast, where there were cockle beds, we were so used to seeing thousands of them on the shore but would still find vast numbers inland on the farm fields.
Thank you Brenda for your thoughts
Yes, Oyster Catchers seen such a versitile bird.
They end up in all types of places now including farm fields
They end up everywhere these days, and it just shows how adaptable they are.
Hi Kathy,
Great story. I'm afraid I've been bombed a few times in my life by gulls with having spent a lot of my earlier years by the coast. Never saw any oyster catchers though!
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Although Oystercatchers are primarily thought of as a species which are tied to mollusc/crustacean rich shorelines they are indeed a species which occur inland making use of lakesides, riversides and open ground where different specialised feeding techniques can be employed as already mentioned. Although they have long been known to make use of inland sites in the north they are increasing in Eastern England and Wales - perhaps with the proliferation of converted extraction pits?
The BTO Atlas data shows changes in thier distribution between the early 70's and 90's. Worth a looksky: http://blx1.bto.org/atlases/OC-atlas.html
If you know of any sightings which you feel is worth a mention you should consider signing up to BirdTrack and help by submitting records for the ongoing UK bird census atlas http://www.bto.org/birdatlas/
Thanks :)
Hi Lloyd
Thank you for your informative reply. I will keep the BTO in mind each and every time I see a rarier bird species ie Firecrest which was done.
I have been investigating my former place of employment, and it appears that same the company is now heavily involved in voluntary work {mainly with young people} with wildlife/Reserves in Scotland, and all over the world. I was amazed to find my old boss playing a bit part in the scheme of things.
I see that Oyster Catcher numbers have decreased over the years, and they are not as abundant in Scotland either.
Just a lot of things to consider, and I think I will get in touch with my former boss once more!
Hi there
Just tried to get in touch with my boss and he is out of his office at the moment
Once I do contact him, I will see if the Oyster Catchers are still living in the same car park
Since he is very involved in wildlife/Reserve work we have lots to talk about
See how we fair, and I will open another thread if this is the case so that Johnny can have his thread back
I'd totally forgotton about this thread in my excitement this morning when I spotted a pair of oyster catchers on my local patch. See thread http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/forums/p/10710/77311.aspx#77311 on 14th March where I have posted a photo.
I was out looking for a strange duck that appeared on the river yesterday. Didn't see the duck but did see the oyster catcher and was gobsmacked! There were 2 of them on a grass bank above the River Ribble, some 30 miles inland, in Lancashire.