florall said:Yes, they head south and west, to where it's warmer. They used to go abroad, but as others have said, many winter now in the south of this country. Saw lots at Titchwell, Norfolk, in February.
Glenn McColl said:There are upwards of a couple of hundred around Breydon Water near Great Yarmouth during the winter,although the numbers vary.Breydon has held up to a thousand in late summer/early autumn. They can also be found at Cley and Titchwell virtually all year.
Thanks Paul and everybody else, my question has been answered that breeding Avocets in the North of England tend to overwinter in Southern England.Paul Wood said:There is a large wintering population on the Thames Estuary (Essex/Kent) and the Medway (Kent). In my experience Avocets tend to over-winter on large estuaries rather than on the shallow lagoons they use for breeding.
As far as numbers are concerned, I can only speak for Essex side of the Thames, where there are usually 300+ in the Foulness area (I do WeBS counts here) in October to March and usually 600+ in the East Tilbury area (my local patch), though there have been some exceptional counts here of up to 1,300, also during October to March.
Small numbers stay to breed in both areas and post-breeding numbers are already beginning to build up - I counted 210 at East Tilbury last Sunday.
Cheers
Paul
Thanks for the additional info. Do you think they will breed in Scotland soon ?alcedo.atthis said:"My local patch is RSPB Marshside,Southport,England. This site has had breeding Avocets for approx. the last three years,my question is where ? do these birds disperse to after breeding, they usually arrive in March and leave in early August."
Some additional info :-
http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/a/avocet/index.asp
Regards
Malky
This intrigues me - why is that? Is this an aesthetic dislike, or do avocets charge around beating up other birds - the sort of thing that gets the likes of Magpies a bad name?alcedo.atthis said:It is noted that some birders do not seem to like these birds. Some do. I am in the "some do's" brigade.
ermine said:This intrigues me - why is that? Is this an aesthetic dislike, or do avocets charge around beating up other birds - the sort of thing that gets the likes of Magpies a bad name?
I've never seen avocets causing trouble anywhere ;-)