A black and white wading bird with a long, bright-red bill which it uses to break into shellfish, each individual inheriting a particular tecnique from its parents.

Statistics
40-45cm long.

Physical description
The oystercatcher has bold black and white glossy plumage and a distinctive long, red bill. Its legs are rose-pink.

Distribution
They are found across Britain and Ireland. Also found in Iceland, the Faroes, northern Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia Minor.

Habitat
The oystercatcher is primarily a shorebird, although it does sometimes breed inland by rivers and lochs. It is more strictly coastal during the winter.

Diet
Despite the name, oystercatchers are not known to eat oysters and in fact favour mussels. They supplement this specialised diet of hard-shelled molluscs with softer-bodied invertebrates, such as crustaceans, worms and insects.

Behaviour
By calling to other oystercatchers they join together to mob predators like crows and gulls. They are adept at breaking into mussels by smashing them with their beak. Interestingly, each oystercatcher uses a specific technique to crack into shells, which is learned from its parents. Oystercatchers are noisy, excitable yet wary birds. They fly low over the shore and sea, and are active and noisy in the night. On prime coastlines they flock in hundreds during the winter.

Reproduction
Oystercatchers establish breeding terretories from February to April. They are ground-nesting birds and lay their eggs (usually three) in stone and shell nests in the shingle, sand or scrub on rocks. Both parents incubate the eggs for a total of 25 days or so. The young fly at 34-37 days old and the population of oystercatchers moves south in July or August.

Conservation status
The European oystercatcher is not theatened.