UK’s oldest Avocet discovered at RSPB Middleton Lakes - RSPB

36-year-old bird marks a remarkable success for species once lost from the UK as a breeding bird.

A 36-year-old Avocet found at RSPB Middleton Lakes in Staffordshire has set a new national record. Originally ringed at RSPB Titchwell in Norfolk on 2 July 1990, the bird is more than five times the average lifespan for the species.

The discovery of the oldest Avocet in the UK highlights just how important our network of nature reserves is for the species and a wide range of other wildlife. Since the 1970s, we have featured an Avocet on our logo, as a symbol of hope and to represent what nature conservation can do for threatened species.

The Avocet has a long history with the RSPB. The species disappeared as a breeding bird from the UK by 1840 after widespread wetland drainage for agriculture and development. Its remarkable return began in 1947, when four breeding pairs arrived on the Suffolk coast at what would later become RSPB Minsmere.

The reserve team went on to pioneer a habitat management method through the creation of the Minsmere “scrape”. Made of shallow lagoons and islands, this habitat is designed to replicate natural coastal wetlands and provide ideal nesting habitat.

Avocets have bred successfully at RSPB Minsmere every year since 1963 when the scrape was created. This approach has since been adopted at nature reserves around the UK, helping the species recover from local extinction to become one of the UK’s fastest-increasing breeding waders.