Saving the spoon-billed sandpiper

The spoon-billed sandpiper is in danger of becoming extinct. The population of this tiny and charming wading bird is crashing by more than a quarter each year.  There are now fewer than 300 birds left. They've never been bred in captivity before but because they are so endangered an urgent rescue operation was started earlier this year. 20 eggs were collected from some of the few remaining pairs on their breeding grounds in Russia. This is the story so far of a remarkable project to save a species and the educational work the RSPB is doing in China  - one of their most important wintering grounds - to protect the coastal mudflats it needs to survive.