Stone curlew Burhinus oedicnemus

The Stone Curlew, Burhinus oedicnemus, is a large, cryptic wader belonging to the family Burhinidae, and one of Britain’s most characterful and range-restricted breeding birds. Adults are streaked sandy-brown, rendering them near-invisible against bare ground, but are unmistakable at closer range – with large, brilliant yellow eyes, bold black and white wing markings, and a distinctive hunched, thick-kneed silhouette. A summer migrant, it arrives from Iberia and North Africa in spring to breed on open, sparsely vegetated habitats with stony or sandy substrates. Suffolk and Norfolk’s Breckland represents the species’ most important British stronghold, holding the majority of the UK population, alongside chalk downland sites in Wiltshire and Hampshire. Careful collaboration between conservation organisations and farmers has been central to the species’ recovery in the Brecks. Image: © Neil Rolph , Flickr.

Find out more: RSPB, iNaturalist