swns.com
Mon, 05 Aug 2013 09:40 CDT

One of Britain's rarest birds stunned shoppers after it was found wandering around - a Lidl supermarket

The stone curlew was discovered "dazed and confused" in the shop many miles from the nearest habitat.

Stone curlews are a ground-nesting bird that were once common in upland areas of the West, but nearly died out because of modern farming methods.


A wildlife expert releases a stone curlew to the wild – after it was found in a supermarket in Devizes, Wiltshire

There are believed to be less than 350 nesting pairs of stone curlews left in Britain, and the RSPB have been campaigning to save the little brown and white birds.

The young stone curlew - also known as a dikkop - was spotted at the budget supermarket chain in Devizes, Wilts..

It was taken to a local vet by a member of the public, and passed on to the Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital at Newton Toney, near Salisbury.

Volunteer Marilyn Korkis said: "I couldn't believe it when I saw it. It is such an unusual bird and a privilege to see it close up."

RSPB stone curlew officer Nick Tomalin said: "We knew an ideal site to release the bird where the landowner has created some excellent stone-curlew habitat."

Mowers are wiping them out. Glad some survive.

yea, they are setting up areas for them, so they won't get plowed/mowed anymore...

Probably one that escaped from the abattoir back of the shop.