The pied avocet is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

The pied avocet was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Recurvirostra avosetta.

[3] While the name may refer to black and white outfits once worn by European advocates or lawyers, the actual etymology is uncertain.

Their breeding habitat is shallow lakes with brackish water and exposed bare mud.

[10] Its successful recolonisation at Minsmere, Suffolk, in 1947 led to its adoption as the logo of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

[8] The pied avocet has spread inland and northwards and westwards in Britain since then and it has bred in Wales[11] and in Scotland in 2018 at Skinflats.