36-Year-Old Avocet Confirmed as Britain's Oldest Recorded

The BBC reported that an avocet spotted at RSPB Middleton Lakes in Staffordshire has been confirmed as the oldest of its kind ever recorded in Britain at 36 years old. The bird was ringed as a nestling at RSPB Titchwell Marsh reserve in Norfolk on 2 July 1990 and identified by its unique combination of coloured rings. The British Trust for Ornithology verified the age through historical records.

The species averages about seven years of life. The same individual was previously recorded at Titchwell Marsh in 2022 at age 31, when it already held the British record that had stood at 27 years. It has now extended that mark by another four years.

Avocets disappeared as a breeding species in the UK during the 1840s. Four pairs returned to the Suffolk coast in 1947 at the site that later became RSPB Minsmere, and the birds have nested there every year since 1963. The RSPB now estimates 1,950 breeding pairs and 8,700 wintering avocets in the UK, compared with four pairs in the late 1940s.

James Robinson, RSPB chief operating officer, called the sighting a "fantastic moment" and said the bird "symbolises hope and the incredible recovery that is possible when people come together to help wildlife". Jon Carter of the British Trust for Ornithology said ringing data contributes to understanding population changes and species declines.

com and Birdwatch magazine, said it seemed "an extraordinarily long time for a relatively small bird to live" and described the individual as "a remarkable, remarkable bird".

He added that it was "wonderful to think that despite all the adversity birds face, and the pressures wildlife faces from humans, they can be extraordinarily resilient". RSPB Middleton Lakes occupies a former gravel extraction site near the Warwickshire border. The avocet appears in the RSPB logo.