English: Avocet, Brownsea Island The graceful black and white wader is the subject of the greatest success story of bird protection in Britain. Because of this, and its general attractiveness, it has been adopted as the symbol for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

About 17 inches long, the avocet has striking piebald plumage and long dusky-blue legs which project behind the tail in flight. Its fine upturned awl shaped bill is perhaps its most distinctive feature, hence its old nick-name: awl-bird. It sweeps the bill in a side-to-side action in shallow water, sifting out small shrimps, water insects and seeds.

The avocet nests in small colonies near the water's edge on sandbanks. The nest is just an unlined hollow in the sand or mud or a pile of dead vegetation. It has up to four buff-brown spotted eggs and these are incubated by both parents in turn for about 23 days. The chicks are capable of feeding themselves when only a few hours old but cannot fly until about six weeks. The helpless chicks are protected from predatory gulls by the swooping attacking flights and shrill yelping calls of their parents if an intruder approaches the nest too closely.