Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)

Our species of the month for April is the Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula). These small rotund wading birds are of critical conservation concern, and the last nesting sites in the Channel Islands are on Alderney.

Ringed plovers can be identified by their orange legs and bold white wing stripe when in flight. Breeding adults have a bold black and white head and breast and a bright orange bill with a dark tip. 

Plovers make nests that are simple shallow hollows in the ground called scrapes. Despite their nesting skills they are dedicated parents, distracting potential predators by walking away from the nest, calling to attract the intruder and feigning a broken wing.

The UK population of ringed plover have declined by 59% in 25 years due to increasing habitat loss and human disturbance on beaches. On Alderney, cordons are put up on Platte Saline to decrease potential disturbance. These cordons have been shown to increase the survival of ringed plovers at egg stage.

We thank Alderney’s residents and visitors for respecting the cordons and supporting the last of the channel islands breeding population of ringed plover.