Day 147/21. My first Avocet.

A visit to Titchfield Nature Reserve yesterday and with my big lens, a chance to capture my very first ever Avocet. Very elegant bird with an unusal feeding method of sweeping from side to side with the oddly long curved beak.
The Avocet is a distinctively-patterned black and white wader with a long up-curved beak. This Schedule 1 species is the emblem of the RSPB and symbolises the bird protection movement in the UK more than any other species. Its return to our shores in the 1940s and subsequent increase in numbers represents one of the most successful conservation and protection projects.