Norfolk bird surveyors find Britain’s oldest known oystercatchers

Birds in their 40s wintering on mudflats of the Wash received leg rings in early 1980s

If your ears are assaulted by the shrill piping calls of an excitable bird on the east coast of England, fear not: it's probably an oystercatcher experiencing a midlife crisis.

Two of the handsome black and white birds with bright red-orange bills have been found to be the oldest known oystercatchers ever recorded in Britain, clocking up at least 41 and 43 years on the mudflats of the Wash.