Waders on at-risk list buck the tide

It has been an exceptional breeding year for rare wading birds at an important coastal site in Suffolk despite avian flu and soaring temperatures, the National Trust said.

A record number of breeding redshanks was recorded at Orford Ness, a remote and fragile habitat on a shingle spit with brackish lagoons and reed and grazing marshes.

The site was once used as a military test area by the Ministry of Defence and is now a nature reserve administered by the trust.

Rangers and volunteers, surveying between April and July, logged 51 pairs of redshanks, which are “amber listed” over conservation concerns, the charity said.

It is the highest number of breeding pairs since records began in 2005.

Surveys also showed that it was the second best year for lapwings, which are on the red list of birds most at risk in the UK, and amber-listed avocets.