Oystercatcher, mother to be!

[Richard Unsworth]

:S3:

I was very pleased to see this egg, very pretty, in amongst all the cockle shells.
Was very close indeed to my local reserve hide, shows just how well cammo'd these things are.

A few weeks later though and I have not seen any chicks.
Apparently Oystercatcher's young are dependent on their parents for quite a long time - 6 months?

[John Chardine]

Could be a father-to-be too Richard. Oystercatcher chicks are precocial which means they can move and feed on their own but they are still dependent on their parents for protection. I am not sure what the dependency period is for this species but I can look it up.