While oystercatchers are a common sight on some stretches of the UK coast - and their noisy peeping call a regular soundtrack - they have amber status on the endangered Red List and up until this year no oystercatcher chicks had hatched in the shorebird sanctuary at Gibraltar Point since 2015.

Wardens at the National Nature Reserve were pleased to see a nest with two eggs early in the summer but concerned that the location the birds had chosen would leave it very vulnerable. A predicted high tide sequence would have seen it flooded and destroyed without intervention. Working against the clock, they boxed the nest so it was possible to move it, then double stacked it to get the parents used to having to fly onto it rather than walk in.

Under normal circumstances, some time would be given for the birds to become accustomed to the change, but with high water levels on the way, the boxed nest was raised onto a newly constructed platform the same day. The wardens held their breath - and the oystercatchers took to the nest! They went on to hatch two chicks on 13 July, and at least one chick is still present in the area.

Shorebird Warden Bethany McGuire said: "It is the first time ever, to our knowledge, that oystercatchers have been lifted - this method is only usually employed for little terns. Oystercatcher platforms are a new technique being implemented around the world with some success, but the idea of lifting them onto these platforms rather than the birds choosing to nest on the platforms to begin with is ground-breaking."

The tidal creeks at Gibraltar Point mean the shorebird nesting sites are particularly susceptible to flooding and trying a pioneering technique like this is a way of reacting to changing circumstances to give vulnerable birds the best possible chance. The oystercatcher achievement comes in a season in which four rare little tern chicks successfully fledged at the reserve.