Ringed plover

The ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula) is found mostly on sandy and muddy shores in northern Europe during the breeding season. It is resident in the British Isles, but many European birds migrate from further south or from North Africa. Britain is also a wintering area for some European ringed plovers, and others are seen on passage from Greenland or Canada. Ringed plovers also nest on inland waters in some areas.

  

Appearance

The ringed plover is a plump bird, about 18-20 centimetres (7.5 inches) in length. The basic colouring is brownish-grey above and whitish below. However, it has a distinctive broad black collar around the neck, which gives it its name. The white on the lower part of the head also extends right round the back of the neck, so the bird in effect has a double ring. The black and white head patterning, comprising black around and above the eye and white behind the eye and on the front of the head, is particularly noticeable in summer.

The ringed plover has a stubby bill, orange with a black tip, and shortish legs that are orangey-yellow. The wings have a white bar that is visible in flight, as are the white sides to the tail. Males and females have similar plumage.

Behaviour

The ringed plover is a fast flyer, often low across the sand, coming to land in a glide that transfers to a fast run with raised wings. Its motions on land are jerky, with the head bobbing and the whole body tilting forward during feeding. The ringed plover can give the impression of moving like a clockwork toy.

The ringed plover has a fairly high two-note call and also a more complicated trilling song that is heard during its display flight.

Ringed plovers feed mainly on insects and larvae, but will also take flies, spiders, worms and small crustaceans and molluscs.

Breeding

Flocks of ringed plovers arrive at their nesting grounds in April or May, forming pairs after they arrive. Female birds arrive before the males, who then perform their courtship display. A pair will then establish its nesting territory, with the male creating several nests from which the female will choose her favourite. The nest is not particularly elaborate, consisting of a scrape in the ground, in the sand or among rocks, lined with small stones or pieces of shell.

Three or four eggs will be laid in May or June, with the birds sharing their incubation which takes up to 26 days. The young birds leave the nest soon after hatching but are looked after by their parents for some time afterwards. Once they have fledged, a second brood is usually raised, and sometimes even a third. The young birds, meanwhile, form flocks of their own. When ready to leave for their winter quarters, the female ringed plovers leave first, just as they arrived first in the spring.

Conservation

The ringed plover has amber conservation status, as a bird that is not in immediate danger as a species in the British Isles, but whose future gives some cause for concern.

© John Welford