Oystercatcher Confusion!

A couple of weeks ago at Glamis our resident Oystercatchers laid 3 eggs into a nest next to the Castle. The only issue being that this nest happens to be directly under an outdoor table at the restaurant!

Here is a little information about Oystercatcher

•The conservation status of the Oystercatcher is Least Concern.

• It is a migratory species which breeds mainly in northern Europe. In winter the birds can be found in southern Europe and North Africa. (However birds found in the UK and Ireland tend to remain year round).

• Due to its large population and easily identifiable behaviour, Oystercatchers are an important indicator for the Health of an ecosystem.

•  Each breeding pair will lay

 2-4 eggs with an incubation

 period of approximately 4 weeks

As you can see below the parents have been incubating the eggs and if they are going to hatch I would expect it to be in the next 2 weeks. The only concern is that because of the disturbance of visitors at the castle, the incubation period has been pretty interrupted. Although I guess its better than the car park which is where they laid them last year!

I will keep everyone updated on the situation.