Bill and Paul,
The pro comes in from the, actually rather benign conditions today, so no need to dry myself off because I'm not even damp.
Whimbrel. You can just about make out the dark central crown stripe that delineates a Whimbrel. Also the bill is not quite long enough for a Curlew and is slightly different in shape. A Curlew's bill is rather evenly curved, your bird has a very slight curve to the bill near the base then becoming a more pronounced curve nearer the tip, hence a Whimbrel.
There are lots of Whimbrel on the move now, flocks of 200-500 are occurring along the south coast estuaries. By now most Curlew have left these estuaries for their breeding grounds, the Whimbrels nest much further north, the far north of Scotland, Iceland and the like, so no point in getting there too early.
For your Corvid I'm going with a Raven, look at the size of the bill and the wedge shaped tail showing in photo 1. Photo 5 just looks a bit odd, more Carrion Crow like, almost as though it's a different bird.
Barrie