Spare a thought for the curlew's sinister, self-effacing cousin

Rye Harbour, East Sussex The omens are bad for the whimbrel, a summer visitor that has all but disappeared from the estuary

Only a few years ago, they used to stage whimbrel walks at Rye Harbour nature reserve. In late summer, these birds, which look like small dark curlew, would stream from estuary to estuary in their thousands, on their way from breeding grounds on Orkney and Shetland to winter on the west African coast.

Now, you're lucky to see a single one out on the salt marshes amid the wheeling terns and plover, and Rye Harbour has re-branded its walks.