Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus
Breeding distribution change
Annual migrant from within Britain or north Europe, first nesting attempt 1998, has bred several years since
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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2013
Atlas species lists
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More Oystercatcher maps
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More maps for this atlas
Map explanation
This map shows where changes occurred in the breeding season distribution of the species in Wiltshire between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, as revealed by the fieldwork for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007) and the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.
Gains and improvements
Status
Nos tetrads
Absent to present
12
1%
Present to breeding
0
0%
Absent to breeding
6
1%
No change
Status
Nos tetrads
Present in both
0
0%
Breeding in both
0
0%
Losses and declines
Status
Nos tetrads
Present to absent
0
0%
Breeding to present
0
0%
Breeding to absent
0
0%
Oystercatchers breed along coasts in northern Europe from Iceland, Fenno-Scandia and northern Russia, south to northwest France and, locally, in the Mediterranean. From the Black Sea eastward into western Siberia and central Asia they are also found far inland along river systems as well as along the Pacific coasts of Asia south to northeast China. They are mostly migratory, wintering along the coasts of western Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and south and east China.
In the 19th century the British population was almost entirely coastal, but from 1900 onwards began to spread inland during the breeding season, first along the major rivers in Scotland and northern England and then subsequently in north Wales and the northern part of East Anglia and eventually in southern England. The British population moves to the coast but remains mostly within Great Britain during the winter, when it is joined by migrants from Iceland, the Faroes and Fenno-Scandia.
In Wiltshire there were a few scattered records during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. From 1950 onwards records became more frequent and have been annual since 1981, mostly in spring or early autumn though they have been recorded in every month. A first, unsuccessful, breeding attempt was noted at the Cotswold Water Park (CWP) in 1998; it was not until 2002 that the first successful breeding was recorded, also at the CWP. Since then, breeding has been confirmed in four more years, with evidence of attempted breeding in three other years - all records at the CWP.
References
The following references are used throughout these species accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
“1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976: The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986: The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
“Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007 : Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
“Bird Atlas 2007-2011” – Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
“WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.