A bird that breaks all the rules

THE red-necked phalarope is a colourful little wading bird, which used to breed in Ireland.

A few pairs still do so in Britain, although their numbers are declining.

It’s a bird which breaks all the rules. Individuals, for example, can be extraordinarily tame; parents have been known to brood chicks held in the hand. Like other waders, phalaropes head for warmer climes each autumn but not to sheltered European estuaries. Instead, most head for the Arabian Peninsula to spend the winter in the Indian Ocean, feeding on plankton. Waders don’t swim but phalaropes are an exception; their toes are lobed to help them do so.