During the coronavirus lockdown in April and early May 2020, a pair of little
ringed plover took up residence on the yacht club foreshore, in an area which
looked likely to provide very suitable breeding habitat. The male was seen
displaying and eventually the pair were seen copulating.
Little ringed plover are listed in schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), and as such it is an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb them at, on or near an ‘active’ nest. With this in mind I am deliberately not saying exactly where these birds nested and though regular readers of this blog will have a pretty good idea, the chances of the birds returning to breed next year in the same location is negligible with no coronavirus lockdown in place.
It was clear that the birds were taking advantage of lockdown to breed in an area where they would otherwise not be able to breed due to high levels of disturbance. As long as lockdown persisted they could probably nest successfully in the area, but by the beginning of May restrictions looked likely to be lifted slightly and I was concerned that a resumption of yachting and swimming might lead to a level of disturbance which the birds would not be able to tolerate and would lead to either the accidental destruction or abandonment of the nest. Little ringed plovers like to nest in stony areas adjacent to water with very little vegetation yet despite this the nests can be very difficult to see even at close range. Nests can be crushed by people or vehicles who don't even know that they are there.
I felt that the least I could do would be to make the yacht club aware of the situation and see if they could restrict access to the area around the nest and ask members to keep dogs on a lead. As I result of this I emailed the commodore of the club who proved to be very understanding and keen to help.
Fencing was erected around the nest using just pins and barrier tape and signage put up to inform people about what was happening. By the beginning of June yachting and open water swimming had begun again in earnest and by the end of the month sometimes up to 100 people or more were present on or around the foreshore or in the water, and on other days yachts and trailers were parked up everywhere. Open water swimming then continued daily until the end of the period with at times up to 60 people in the water and at least as many either waiting to enter or watching, and over 80 cars on the yacht club car park. Yet despite very high levels of disturbance all around the fenced area the pair miraculously managed to hatch 4 chicks. As is usual with the species the chicks were running around in the immediate vicinity of the nest within hours of hatching, and by the following day they were venturing further afield, often outside the fenced area along the whole length of the foreshore and most people were oblivious to them.
In fact this lack of visibility was one of the biggest problems which I encountered and one which I didn't anticipate. Despite the fact that there were signs up saying that birds were nesting within the fenced area most people I spoke to seemed to think that they weren't there because it just looked like a pile of stones with no vegetation where it would be impossible to not see a bird sitting on its nest. Yet the nest was there and the birds were sitting. Then when the chicks hatched, they were also virtually invisible at first, being little more than the size of the stones and the same colour, and when they crouched down they just disappeared.
After the first week only one chick remained, with the other three chicks possibly picked off one by one by a kestrel. Around this time the family's behaviour changed and especially in busy periods they started spending a lot of time in the area where the yachts were parked.
Twenty-four days after hatching the last remaining chick took it's first
flight. By this time the female had abandoned her parental responsibilities
and was nowhere to be seen. The juvenile remained on the foreshore with the
male for a few more days, even occasionally still being brooded, until it
was last seen on day 29 after hatching.
This is my diary of the events. For most of the period I did not have access to the yacht club and all of my viewing was done from a vantage point outside the perimeter fence at a distance of approximately 115m. The majority of photographs and the videos in this post were taken from this position, especially those at the start. I actually found this a better place to view from, rather than inside the yacht club because it was slightly raised up and the birds behaved more naturally.
On only a handful of occasions up until about the middle of June did I enter the grounds, usually if I thought somebody was getting too close to the nest and keeping the adults off the eggs or there was a dog nearby off the lead. When the chicks were about a week old I was given access to the club which enabled me to observe the family when they started using the yacht parking area and from about the third week in June I did start to enter the club more regularly and was able to sit and watch the birds at a distance of about 50m.
This diary is about the birds, their behaviour and their remarkable resilience, it is not about people. I have nothing but praise for the efforts of the yacht club and the organisers of the open water swim, and when I mention disturbance, it is not intended as a criticism of the individuals, rather I am trying to show how resilient to disturbance the birds were.
14th April - First record of a single bird, also three common sandpiper.
14th - 23rd April - single bird present.
24th April - Two birds present.
26th April - Still two birds present, also dunlin and common sandpiper.
28th April - Two birds still present. Male in butterfly display flight over the yacht club. The habitat on the foreshore looks ideal for little ringed plover, it appears that there's every chance that they could breed here, no doubt taking advantage of the lack of disturbance due to lockdown restrictions.
5th May - Pickup truck with trailer for water sampling boat parked
on foreshore right over the area which looks most suitable for nesting.
Even now it's a dangerous place to nest, but I'm starting to get concerned
that if the current lockdown restrictions are lifted they will have no
chance of successfully fledging youngsters.
6th May - Pair seen copulating. The male walked towards the female 'goose-stepping' with his body held vertical then jumped on her back. Apparently it is the moment that she shakes him off that copulation takes place. It's now clear that these birds are going to attempt to breed here, but the country is expecting a statement from the prime minister on the 10th May to announce the first steps in easing lockdown, which inevitably will lead to an increase in people and dogs on the foreshore.
7th May - I decided that I needed to contact the yacht club and found the email address of the commodore. I gave him the facts about little ringed plover and got a very positive response. He was happy to fence the area with tape and to ask all members and swimmers to keep away from the area, avoid disturbing the birds and keep dogs on a lead. I also tried to contact the RSPB for advice but their office was closed due to COVID-19. However at this stage I had not seen a nest.
12th May - Coronovirus lockdown restrictions eased.
13th May - The commodore contacted me to say that tomorrow he would be installing the fence and asked if I could give him an idea of where the nest would be. I still hadn't seen a nest so I marked on an aerial image roughly where I expected it to be given what I had seen from the birds behaviour and from what I knew of the species preference.
8th June - 8am female sitting, male on shoreline feeding. No disturbance. 2pm, male sitting but restless. Often getting up and walking around then sitting again. Occasionally moving sticks away from the vicinity of the nest. No disturbance. 8.30pm female sitting, male on shoreline. Although I didn't see anybody it appears that the open water swimmers have been back this evening because I'm pretty sure that I saw one of their support vans leaving.
9th June - Day 26, 8am female sitting. Avocet flew over calling, only my second at this location. 10:30am, female sitting but in a different way to normal, with wings spread slightly. I thought I could see movement in the nest. Suddenly she got up and flew to the shore carrying something fairly large but I couldn't be sure what it was. She returned almost immediately, I suspected that it was egg shell. Occasionally now I could see movement in the nest and eventually saw at least one chick. The female still looked restless, wings slightly spread and pecking at the ground around the nest. Eventually she lifted her head and through the telescope I could see that she had a pale brown egg shell in her bill, which I would estimate was about two thirds of the egg. She flew up and landed on the shore, dropped the shell and appeared to break it up before flying back to the nest and sitting again.
Since the first flight to the shore was also most likely a large piece of egg shell, it would seem likely that at least two chicks have hatched so far this morning. Through all of this there was a guy on the shoreline raking weed out of the water and another getting ready to go out in a canoe, both within 10m of the nest. 1.30pm, same dog as that seen on 29th May was running around on the foreshore off the lead and once raced right through the fence and nesting area. I went into the yacht club and politely asked if it could be restrained and / or kept away and owner said he would and took it away to his vehicle. There were several yachts being got ready to go out right next to the fence and one of the people asked if I could point out the nest which I did, believing that now the chicks had hatched they needed to be visible in order to try to encourage the users of the foreshore to take care and hopefully members who had seen the chicks might help police the foreshore in my absence. The bird remained sitting.
8pm, following a very busy evening which was described to me as being like Blackpool beach with lots of open water swimmers on the foreshore, the yacht club was devoid of people. The male was sitting and periodically three chicks were visible running around the nest site. Two crows were on the foreshore and the female followed them around making sure that they didn't come too close to the nest.
10th June - 8am, four chicks with the female just beyond nesting area, male on shoreline. Chicks already very active, running around like miniature adults, hard to believe that they were born just yesterday. 7.30am to 10am around 40 open water swimmers present, plus support boats. 11am, chicks still with female who occasionally sits down and partially opens her wings as if to provide a safe haven for the chicks should they need it, though they don't always come back to her. Male chasing away pied wagtails. Around 50 sand martins keep landing on the foreshore to take grit. I took a video of one of the parents with the chicks and decided to circulate it to as many people as possible in order to raise awareness and let people know that despite what their eyes might tell them, there were tiny chicks on the foreshore. It was circulated on the yacht club WhatsApp group and viewed over 300 times.
6th May - Pair seen copulating. The male walked towards the female 'goose-stepping' with his body held vertical then jumped on her back. Apparently it is the moment that she shakes him off that copulation takes place. It's now clear that these birds are going to attempt to breed here, but the country is expecting a statement from the prime minister on the 10th May to announce the first steps in easing lockdown, which inevitably will lead to an increase in people and dogs on the foreshore.
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Photo: Little ringed plovers preparing to copulate. Note the brighter eye ring of the male and the blacker more extensive face markings. |
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| Photo: Little ringed plovers copulating. |
7th May - I decided that I needed to contact the yacht club and found the email address of the commodore. I gave him the facts about little ringed plover and got a very positive response. He was happy to fence the area with tape and to ask all members and swimmers to keep away from the area, avoid disturbing the birds and keep dogs on a lead. I also tried to contact the RSPB for advice but their office was closed due to COVID-19. However at this stage I had not seen a nest.
12th May - Coronovirus lockdown restrictions eased.
13th May - The commodore contacted me to say that tomorrow he would be installing the fence and asked if I could give him an idea of where the nest would be. I still hadn't seen a nest so I marked on an aerial image roughly where I expected it to be given what I had seen from the birds behaviour and from what I knew of the species preference.
14th May - Barrier tape and fencing pins were installed from
western most concrete slipway to the west end of the foreshore, an area
of about 100m2 about half the size of that I had
suggested. Little ringed plovers were flying around and calling while
the fencing was installed but the nest was not looked for and not seen.
A (greater) ringed plover was on the shore line but no interaction
between the two species was observed.
15th May - First sighting of a bird sitting although it had
probably been sitting since at least yesterday given the birds reaction
when the fence was being installed. Unfortunately the nest was outside
the area which had been fenced. The fence was moved to enclose the area
between the two western most concrete slipways and now contained the
nest.
22nd May - Change over at the nest observed. Male was sitting, female came up to the nest and slipped in under the spread tail of its mate.
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Photo: First sighting of little ringed plover on the nest, outside the fence! |
22nd May - Change over at the nest observed. Male was sitting, female came up to the nest and slipped in under the spread tail of its mate.
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| Photo: Nest change over. Male left, female right. |
24th May - Resumption of open water swimming and some yachting.
Around 20 people on the foreshore until at least 8pm.
25th May - Open water swimmers present from 7:30am until about
9am. Birds still sitting.
29th May - Dog running back and forth along the footpath near
fenced off area belonging to one of the yacht club members. I asked if
it could be restrained in that area and it was.
30th May - Open water swimmers present from 7:30am until about
9am. Birds still sitting.
3rd June - Open water swimmers present from 7:30am until about
9am. Birds still sitting.
4th June - I accepted an invite from a yacht club member and
accompanied him into the yacht club and observed the birds at close
range (but no closer than several other members who were preparing
yachts to go out). The sitting bird remained on the nest throughout.
This was the first occasion that I had entered the club grounds.
5th June - Change over at nest observed.
6th June - Open water swimmers present from 7:30am until about 9am. Very poor weather, strong NW wind (22mph), heavy rain. Man with dog standing right alongside the fence with the dog off the lead keeping the birds off the nest in torrential rain. I went into the yacht club and politely asked him to move and keep the dog on a lead in the area of the nest and he said he would. However the birds made no effort to return to the nest. 10.30am All swimmers gone and yacht club deserted. Rain stopped but blustery winds, female on nest but not comfortable, sitting for a minute, then getting up and walking around the nest, then sitting again, then getting up again. Change over observed and male more settled. Tundra (greater) ringed plover on the shoreline, both birds engaged in trying to chase it off but the bird remained until at least 2.30pm. A hobby shot through chasing swifts but I'm not sure that the plovers even noticed! Birds sitting and settled all afternoon with very little disturbance.
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| Photo: female little ringed plover. |
5th June - Change over at nest observed.
6th June - Open water swimmers present from 7:30am until about 9am. Very poor weather, strong NW wind (22mph), heavy rain. Man with dog standing right alongside the fence with the dog off the lead keeping the birds off the nest in torrential rain. I went into the yacht club and politely asked him to move and keep the dog on a lead in the area of the nest and he said he would. However the birds made no effort to return to the nest. 10.30am All swimmers gone and yacht club deserted. Rain stopped but blustery winds, female on nest but not comfortable, sitting for a minute, then getting up and walking around the nest, then sitting again, then getting up again. Change over observed and male more settled. Tundra (greater) ringed plover on the shoreline, both birds engaged in trying to chase it off but the bird remained until at least 2.30pm. A hobby shot through chasing swifts but I'm not sure that the plovers even noticed! Birds sitting and settled all afternoon with very little disturbance.
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Photo: Little ringed plover pair attempting to chase off a tundra ringed plover. |
7th June - 7am, a much quieter start to the day, no disturbance
and bird still sitting. Female pochard just offshore, my first ever June
record here. At 1pm there were five yachts pulled up alongside the fence
with people putting up masts and sails. Birds on and off the nest as
disturbance allowed. An angler told me that "there must have been 50
boats on earlier, they looked like small junior boats, maybe having
lessons". Probably an exaggeration I guess but even so I'm glad I wasn't
there this morning, just too stressful. 5pm probably up to 50 swimmers
in the water or on the foreshore. Lots of other people on the foreshore
watching, at least three dogs present all on the lead. No sign of any
plover, nowhere for them to go to be honest. Very grim. 8pm, no
disturbance at the yacht club, male sitting, female on the shore. Male
briefly got up and ran from the nest as a crow flew over but quickly
returned. That's 24 days completed sitting on the nest, average
incubation time is 25 days so assuming that the eggs haven't got too
cold while the adults have been kept off the nest this weekend I'm
hoping that I may see chicks any day now.
8th June - 8am female sitting, male on shoreline feeding. No disturbance. 2pm, male sitting but restless. Often getting up and walking around then sitting again. Occasionally moving sticks away from the vicinity of the nest. No disturbance. 8.30pm female sitting, male on shoreline. Although I didn't see anybody it appears that the open water swimmers have been back this evening because I'm pretty sure that I saw one of their support vans leaving.
9th June - Day 26, 8am female sitting. Avocet flew over calling, only my second at this location. 10:30am, female sitting but in a different way to normal, with wings spread slightly. I thought I could see movement in the nest. Suddenly she got up and flew to the shore carrying something fairly large but I couldn't be sure what it was. She returned almost immediately, I suspected that it was egg shell. Occasionally now I could see movement in the nest and eventually saw at least one chick. The female still looked restless, wings slightly spread and pecking at the ground around the nest. Eventually she lifted her head and through the telescope I could see that she had a pale brown egg shell in her bill, which I would estimate was about two thirds of the egg. She flew up and landed on the shore, dropped the shell and appeared to break it up before flying back to the nest and sitting again.
Since the first flight to the shore was also most likely a large piece of egg shell, it would seem likely that at least two chicks have hatched so far this morning. Through all of this there was a guy on the shoreline raking weed out of the water and another getting ready to go out in a canoe, both within 10m of the nest. 1.30pm, same dog as that seen on 29th May was running around on the foreshore off the lead and once raced right through the fence and nesting area. I went into the yacht club and politely asked if it could be restrained and / or kept away and owner said he would and took it away to his vehicle. There were several yachts being got ready to go out right next to the fence and one of the people asked if I could point out the nest which I did, believing that now the chicks had hatched they needed to be visible in order to try to encourage the users of the foreshore to take care and hopefully members who had seen the chicks might help police the foreshore in my absence. The bird remained sitting.
8pm, following a very busy evening which was described to me as being like Blackpool beach with lots of open water swimmers on the foreshore, the yacht club was devoid of people. The male was sitting and periodically three chicks were visible running around the nest site. Two crows were on the foreshore and the female followed them around making sure that they didn't come too close to the nest.
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Photo: Little ringed plover, male, with chick (left) less than 12 hours old. |
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| Photo: Little ringed plover, female. |
10th June - 8am, four chicks with the female just beyond nesting area, male on shoreline. Chicks already very active, running around like miniature adults, hard to believe that they were born just yesterday. 7.30am to 10am around 40 open water swimmers present, plus support boats. 11am, chicks still with female who occasionally sits down and partially opens her wings as if to provide a safe haven for the chicks should they need it, though they don't always come back to her. Male chasing away pied wagtails. Around 50 sand martins keep landing on the foreshore to take grit. I took a video of one of the parents with the chicks and decided to circulate it to as many people as possible in order to raise awareness and let people know that despite what their eyes might tell them, there were tiny chicks on the foreshore. It was circulated on the yacht club WhatsApp group and viewed over 300 times.
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| Video: Little ringed plover with day old chicks |
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| Photo: Little ringed plover with one day old chicks. |
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| Photo: Little ringed plover with chick |
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Photo: Little ringed plover with chick taking shelter under the adults wing. |
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Photo: Little ringed plover chick approx. 36 hours old. |
11th June - Female with 4 chicks on the foreshore and male on the shoreline. A windy day so no yachts on the water. Open water swimmers arriving in the evening. I spoke to one of the organisers and asked if he could ask people to keep off the foreshore as far as possible but I didn't stay long to see what happened.
12th June - 7.30am, female with 4 chicks on the foreshore and male on the shoreline. Good to see that they all survived a hectic evening of disturbance yesterday. No human disturbance this morning. There seems to be a pattern emerging, one adult goes to the shoreline to feed while the other positions itself somewhere on the foreshore, almost like a mobile nest for the youngsters to return to periodically. When they do return they all seem to do so together and huddle under the adults wings, so much so that they can't be seen. After maybe five minutes there's always one that breaks out alone and runs away to feed. On one of these occasions this morning the first chick ran about 6m from the adult, quite a long way for a youngster which is about 3cm long. Then after another minute or so the other three chicks emerge, sometimes because the adult stands up. All four chicks and the adult then feed or occasionally the other adult will take over watching the chicks. After about 5 - 10 minutes all the youngsters return to the adult, possibly because they've been called over.
9am, carrion crow on the beach very close to the chicks and both adults crouching low with tails spread, rolling from side to side and flapping both their wings in a desperate way as distraction behaviour in order to try to divert the crows attention away from the chicks. Eventually the crow flew off leaving the chicks unharmed. 4pm, moderate north easterly wind (20mph) whipping up over the water straight onto the foreshore. Adult brooding four chicks on the foreshore, second adult on the shoreline. The chicks occasionally running to the shoreline to feed in very challenging conditions for the youngsters with relatively large waves lapping up onto the shore.
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| Photo: Little ringed plover chicks, 4 days old. |
13th June - Open water swimmers present from 7:30am until about 9.30am. A few people were on the foreshore watching the swimming and a dog was running around nearby off the lead. Adult little ringed plover flying around calling. I assume that the chicks were nearby but I didn't see them. I went into the yacht club and asked if the people on the foreshore could move away and asked the owner of the dog if it could be restrained. Challenging times for 3cm long chicks which can't fly. 10.30am, several yachts on the foreshore, many on the water, people standing all over the foreshore. However, at 8.30pm, the yacht club was deserted and miraculously the male was brooding four chicks. The chicks were back to normal, one ran away from the adult to the shoreline and a minute or two later the other three would do the same. It's all as if nothing had happened, however the likelihood is that the chicks haven't been able to feed for a large part of the day, so they need to get busy now. I read that in places of high human disturbance chicks can take longer to fledge (around 29 days) than in quieter areas (around 24 days), probably because of disruption to feeding, so it will be interesting to see when these fledge, if they get that far, and assuming that I actually see their first flight.
14th June - 8.30am, a quiet start to the day, no sign of any swimmers. Adult again brooding 4 chicks next to fenced off area. They seem to have favoured spots for brooding, usually I see them on the stones to the east of the nesting area, about halfway up the foreshore making them quite easy to spot from my vantage point but in quite a vulnerable area when people arrive. Another favoured spot is to the west of the nesting area, in amongst taller vegetation. 11.30am, at least 30 yachts on the water, others being prepared to go out and trailers all along the foreshore with more people arriving. Not many people on the foreshore but some sitting at the picnic benches with at least one dog. No sign of any little ringed plover, both of their favoured brooding areas unusable by the birds. It's hard to know where they go at such times, the nesting area is still quite secure for them so long as dogs are on a lead, but I wouldn't have thought that the adults would tolerate so many people all around the area, and I haven't actually seen them inside the nesting area since the chicks hatched.
7pm, open water swimmers present, over 100 people either in the water or on the foreshore. Amazingly, female with chicks on the shore in front of the fenced area. The female seems to be doing most of the brooding so perhaps the male is starting to lose interest. Apparently it's not unusual for one of the adults to lose interest, though it could be either adult, it's not always the male. However they did swap over this evening, so he's still involved at the moment. Despite an initial count of four chicks, by the time I left I could only find three chicks. I didn't notice anything happen to it, so let's hope that the 4th turns up again tomorrow. A kestrel flew through in the evening. Glad to see that the organisers of the open water swim have put my video on their Facebook page and asked people to not bring dogs to the event.
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Photo: Female little ringed plover with chicks, 5 days old. |
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| Photo: Little ringed plover chick 5 days old. |
15th June - It's now confirmed, there are only three chicks. What happened to the 4th is a mystery seeing as it apparently disappeared whilst I was watching them. Disappointing given that the family had survived so much disturbance all weekend and right at the end lost one of the youngsters. However, three would still be a good result so a lot still to be positive about. No disturbance during the day but open water swimmers again in the evening.
16th June - 8am, female with only two chicks, male on the shoreline. Apparently little ringed plovers have a success rate of about 30% so two out of four would be a good result, but it's a blow to lose two in successive days and still a long way to go with the chicks still only a week old and about three weeks away from flying. A couple of crows were on the shoreline as well, perhaps they might be the culprits, but there are other possibilities including the kestrel which I saw the other evening. I thought that the male plover had more or less given up his parental duties but after watching for half an hour or so I saw him fly to the female and take over watching the chicks. Around 100 sand martins keep flying onto the beach and landing, clearly eating grit.
12.30pm, the water sampling boat had obviously been on the water because it was on a trailer at the back of a van parked on the top of the foreshore. Four people around the van looked to be sorting samples. The female plover was on the shoreline but no sign of the youngsters or the male. After about 20 minutes of feeding the female walked from the foreshore following a slipway and disappeared into the area higher up where the boats are stored and I could hear piping sounds coming from in amongst the yachts. It appears that the adults take the youngsters into this relatively safe area when there is disturbance, which seems a good idea to me.
7.45pm, torrential rain and thunder storms this evening and only the female on the shore. No sign of the male and the chicks. Open water swimmers packing up and ready to leave. I stayed for an hour and at no time did I see the chicks, however there was clearly a change over because the female wandered off into the yachts and then the male appeared on the shoreline. When the rain eased off I walked along one of the slipways and heard a lot of calling coming from under the yachts. The little ringed plover family is now clearly using this area to shelter from people during busy periods and I suspect that they have been for a few days now, but what was different tonight is that when the people left the family didn't emerge from the shelter. Was that because of the rain or will this now be their new routine?
17th June - 8am, female on the shoreline feeding, male at the top of the foreshore with one chick. Both adult and youngster walked up a slipway and into the yachts. Lots of calling coming from the area around the yachts for the rest of the visit but I didn't see any further sign of chicks. Although this behaviour might offer the chick(s) some extra protection, it makes it very difficult for me to observe the family and I'm not sure that the chick(s) are able to feed as well amongst the yachts. At the moment it's impossible to know for certain how many chicks there are, certainly no more than two but possibly just one. There was a common sandpiper also feeding on the shoreline.
4pm, male on the shoreline, no sign of the female or chick(s). Male flew into the yacht storage area and disappeared and plenty of calling coming from that area so clearly the family is still in there, though completely invisible to me. I contacted the commodore of the club and suggested that he may as well take down the fencing now and this was done in the evening.
18th June - 7.30am, male feeding on the shoreline, female with at least one chick still in the yacht storage area. I was surprised at how large this chick looked compared to the chick I saw yesterday and this offers some hope that perhaps it's a different bird and maybe there are still two present. Around 300 sand martins taking grit off the foreshore and hundreds of swifts over the water. A day of heavy rain from about 9am to 7.30pm.
8pm, open water swimmers just leaving. Female little ringed plover still
amongst the yachts and one chick seen. No sign of the male this evening.
There was a kestrel hovering over the main field adjacent to the main car
park, perhaps that might be preying on the chicks. If so it would seem to
be a lot safer for the chicks under the yachts rather than on the
foreshore.
19th June - 7.30am, male with one chick at the top of the foreshore, female on the shoreline feeding. It's clear that both adults are still involved with parental duties because when the male and the chick walked into the yacht parking area and disappeared for a while both adults continued to call to each other and when a magpie flew in and landed, both parents attacked it and chased it off. At the time the magpie landed the little ringed plover chick had come out of the yachts and was on the shoreline feeding, the first time I have seen it here for a few days. As soon as the magpie appeared it ran back to the cover of the yachts while it's parents chased off the magpie. Once again a kestrel flew over and I really do have this bird down as prime suspect at the moment. It's sudden appearance over the past few days has coincided with the gradual disappearance of the chicks and it makes me wonder if this falcon now has chicks of its own to feed and is targeting birds in the yacht club.
19th June - 7.30am, male with one chick at the top of the foreshore, female on the shoreline feeding. It's clear that both adults are still involved with parental duties because when the male and the chick walked into the yacht parking area and disappeared for a while both adults continued to call to each other and when a magpie flew in and landed, both parents attacked it and chased it off. At the time the magpie landed the little ringed plover chick had come out of the yachts and was on the shoreline feeding, the first time I have seen it here for a few days. As soon as the magpie appeared it ran back to the cover of the yachts while it's parents chased off the magpie. Once again a kestrel flew over and I really do have this bird down as prime suspect at the moment. It's sudden appearance over the past few days has coincided with the gradual disappearance of the chicks and it makes me wonder if this falcon now has chicks of its own to feed and is targeting birds in the yacht club.
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| Photo: Ten day old little ringed plover chick. |
21st June - 8am, female little ringed plover on the shoreline. I
had a good look around the yacht club but couldn't find any sight or sound
of the male or chick which was a bit alarming since normally they have
been calling a lot. However when I returned to the shoreline about 10
minutes later the female was gone and had been replaced by the male who
started calling as soon as he saw me. I had another walk amongst the
parked yachts and this time there was a lot of calling and the male flew
from the shoreline, landed in front of me and was immediately joined by
the female. Not wanting to disturb them I turned back and left them, so I
didn't see the chick, however from their behaviour there appears to be at
least one chick still present.
22nd June - 9am, male on the shoreline, female in amongst the
yachts. Common sandpiper and grey wagtail family on the shoreline and sand
martins landing on the foreshore. The adults are still behaving as if
there is a chick but I didn't see it. 4.30pm, female on the shoreline,
male on the main car park. Both birds calling to each other and as I
watched the female, the male flew onto the car park and there was clearly
a change over as one bird landed and the other then flew down to the
shoreline. Again no chick seen. A magnificent peregrine flew over. Open
water swimmers present again in the evening.
23rd June - 8am, both adults and chick on the shoreline feeding.
The chick is now 14 days old and really putting on weight. Even so, it's
not too big to seek the comfort of its mother and on a couple of occasions
she brooded it for a few minutes. Common sandpiper also on the shoreline
and sand martins again landing on the foreshore.
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Photo: female little ringed plover brooding 14 day old chick. |
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| Photo: Little ringed plover chick, 14 days old. |
24th June - 8am, male with chick in amongst the yachts. Lots of
open water swimmers in the water or on the foreshore so I didn't hang
around. A scorchingly hot day with temperatures reaching 29'C.
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| Photo: male little ringed plover. |
Although the male can clearly walk, he does also hop quite a lot, always
on it's left leg. Looking at the photos it appears that there might be
damage or an infection on it's right tarsus.
25th June - No visits from me today, but temperatures reached 32'C.
26th June - 8am, pair with 17 day old chick on the shoreline. Male occasionally chasing off pied wagtails.
27th June - 10am, no sign of any little ringed plover. Open water swimmers just leaving, at least 10 yachts already on the foreshore and others being prepared to go out. I assume that the plover family is in amongst the parked yachts as usual.
28th June - 8am, little ringed plover family on the shoreline with two common sandpipers. The chick is now 19 days old and very like a mini adult and I watched it jump in the air and flap its wings as if practicing for flight, which could be as soon as five days away. Hundreds of sand martins and swifts were over the water and as I watched a hobby suddenly appeared at head height and at a distance of little more than 10m from me began chasing sand martins. It twisted and turned and finally with terrifying accuracy picked out a victim and in mid flight grabbed it and flew off with its prey, leaving me a little breathless!
8pm, adult and chick on the foreshore, open water swimmers just leaving. The family seem to have changed their routine again since Friday and are now confidently spending time on the foreshore though they will still run for the cover of the parked yachts in busy periods or when danger threatens.
25th June - No visits from me today, but temperatures reached 32'C.
26th June - 8am, pair with 17 day old chick on the shoreline. Male occasionally chasing off pied wagtails.
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| Photo:17 day old little ringed plover. |
27th June - 10am, no sign of any little ringed plover. Open water swimmers just leaving, at least 10 yachts already on the foreshore and others being prepared to go out. I assume that the plover family is in amongst the parked yachts as usual.
28th June - 8am, little ringed plover family on the shoreline with two common sandpipers. The chick is now 19 days old and very like a mini adult and I watched it jump in the air and flap its wings as if practicing for flight, which could be as soon as five days away. Hundreds of sand martins and swifts were over the water and as I watched a hobby suddenly appeared at head height and at a distance of little more than 10m from me began chasing sand martins. It twisted and turned and finally with terrifying accuracy picked out a victim and in mid flight grabbed it and flew off with its prey, leaving me a little breathless!
8pm, adult and chick on the foreshore, open water swimmers just leaving. The family seem to have changed their routine again since Friday and are now confidently spending time on the foreshore though they will still run for the cover of the parked yachts in busy periods or when danger threatens.
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| Photo: Little ringed plover chick 19 days old. |
29th June - 8am, pair with chick on foreshore feeding.
Approximately 185 coot loafing on the shoreline and around 90 canada geese
on the foreshore but the chick seemingly not too bothered about these. At
least 1000 sand martins over the water. A sparrowhawk flew across the
water and away over the clubhouse and later a kestrel did the same. After
about 15 minutes of watching the heavens opened and it was constant heavy
rain for the next hour during which the adults and chick disappeared into
the yacht parking area and were not seen again during the duration of the
visit. I left at about 9.30am.
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| Photo: A busy foreshore! |
30th June - 8am, no sign of any little ringed plover on the
foreshore, lots of coots and canada geese again. I didn't go into the
club. 11am, dog running around the foreshore and yachts being prepared to
go out, no sign of any little ringed plover. 8.30pm, both adults and 21
day old chick feeding on mayflies and other invertebrates on the
shoreline. Occasionally the chick would run fast, jumping and flapping
it's wings as if trying to fly but it's not quite there yet. Any day now
though. The chick is very nearly the same size as the adults, yet even so
on one occasion it ran back to the male and was brooded for a couple of
minutes.
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| Photo: Little ringed plover chick 21 days old. |
1st July - 7.45am, female little ringed plover on the shoreline
feeding, then flew across the flash towards the spit. Open water swimmers
again in the water and on the foreshore so the chick is presumably
sheltering under the yachts. Open water swimming is now taking place about
six times a week, on two mornings and four evenings. Today I counted 20
people in the water and others on the foreshore, but people come and go
throughout the session so the total number of people present this morning
will be far more than 20. Also a van parked on the foreshore, as is usual
with the open water swim. 11am, yacht club deserted but male and chick
still in amongst the yachts. Common sandpiper also on the foreshore. 8pm,
yachts being brought in and put away. At first no sign of the plover
family but after 10 minutes the youngster ran out from under the yachts to
the foreshore, but immediately thought better of it and ran back. Still
too many people around! After another 10 minutes though there were less
people and an adult and the chick went down to the shoreline and started
feeding. Two common sandpipers were on the shore and a curlew flew over
heading south.
2nd July - 7.45am, little ringed plover family in amongst the parked yachts. I stayed until 10am and only once did I see the chick, for about 10 seconds when it ran onto the foreshore but almost immediately ran back to the yachts. Two common sandpipers on the shoreline, a 1st summer drake common scoter of the water and a 1st or 2nd summer arctic tern. No people around this morning. 2:30pm, no sign of any plovers. No yachts on the water but yacht club members sat at the end of the foreshore and a dog running around on the foreshore and in amongst the yachts. Open water swimmers due tonight but I'll be elsewhere until tomorrow morning.
3rd July - A hectic morning at the flash as my little ringed plover monitoring was constantly interrupted by news of other birds which were being seen in the pouring rain. Two drake common scoter in the middle were joined by two drake scaup, then a family party of Egyptian geese turned up, a curlew flew over and finally somebody spotted an odd looking and very pale tern which required attention. Eventually I managed to return to watching the plover, though even now there were distractions, a common sandpiper was on the shoreline and hundreds of sand martins kept dropping onto the foreshore to eat grit. The male and chick were on the foreshore feeding, the chick now 24 days old and surely on the verge of flight. Even so during a period of heavy rain the adult brooded the chick until unfortunately a car drove along the foreshore and disturbed them sending the adult in one direction and the chick in the other, most likely under the shelter of the yachts. I've not seen the female with the chick for a few days now, in fact I've not seen her at all since she flew over to the spit a couple of days ago. Still a chance that she'll reappear though.
2.30pm, male and chick little ringed plover on the foreshore. I was watching the chick through my telescope when suddenly it seemed to tense up and then FLEW at least 20m from the shoreline into the yachts. Fantastic, the first time I've seen it fly and pretty impressive for a bird which has suffered so much disturbance, because 24 days is at the lower end of the expected fledging period for the species. I was thinking that this bird might be at the upper end due to disruption to it's feeding as a result of high levels of disturbance, but obviously not.
2nd July - 7.45am, little ringed plover family in amongst the parked yachts. I stayed until 10am and only once did I see the chick, for about 10 seconds when it ran onto the foreshore but almost immediately ran back to the yachts. Two common sandpipers on the shoreline, a 1st summer drake common scoter of the water and a 1st or 2nd summer arctic tern. No people around this morning. 2:30pm, no sign of any plovers. No yachts on the water but yacht club members sat at the end of the foreshore and a dog running around on the foreshore and in amongst the yachts. Open water swimmers due tonight but I'll be elsewhere until tomorrow morning.
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| Photo: Little ringed plover habitat! |
3rd July - A hectic morning at the flash as my little ringed plover monitoring was constantly interrupted by news of other birds which were being seen in the pouring rain. Two drake common scoter in the middle were joined by two drake scaup, then a family party of Egyptian geese turned up, a curlew flew over and finally somebody spotted an odd looking and very pale tern which required attention. Eventually I managed to return to watching the plover, though even now there were distractions, a common sandpiper was on the shoreline and hundreds of sand martins kept dropping onto the foreshore to eat grit. The male and chick were on the foreshore feeding, the chick now 24 days old and surely on the verge of flight. Even so during a period of heavy rain the adult brooded the chick until unfortunately a car drove along the foreshore and disturbed them sending the adult in one direction and the chick in the other, most likely under the shelter of the yachts. I've not seen the female with the chick for a few days now, in fact I've not seen her at all since she flew over to the spit a couple of days ago. Still a chance that she'll reappear though.
2.30pm, male and chick little ringed plover on the foreshore. I was watching the chick through my telescope when suddenly it seemed to tense up and then FLEW at least 20m from the shoreline into the yachts. Fantastic, the first time I've seen it fly and pretty impressive for a bird which has suffered so much disturbance, because 24 days is at the lower end of the expected fledging period for the species. I was thinking that this bird might be at the upper end due to disruption to it's feeding as a result of high levels of disturbance, but obviously not.
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Video: Little ringed plover brooding 24 day old chick until disturbed by a car. |
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| Photo: Male with 24 day old chick. |
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| Photo: Male brooding 24 day old chick. |
4th July - 8am, Little ringed plover calls coming from amongst the
parked yachts and a single bird, probably an adult flew off. At least 60
swimmers in the water and at least another 40 people either on the
foreshore, by the clubhouse or on the car park. A minimum of 80 cars on
the yacht club car park and others arriving all the time. 10am, open water
swimming over, yachts now on the foreshore, a fairly typical Saturday
morning so far. Chick still in amongst the parked yachts. 7.30pm, male and
chick on the foreshore feeding. The chick had a practice flight of about
10m around the foreshore. Once again the adult was seen to brood the chick
which is now 25 days old. Again no sign of the female and I haven't seen
her since she flew over to the spit on 1st July. Assuming that
nothing bad has happened it now looks as though she has given up her
parental duties. For the first time since I have been monitoring these
birds there was a cat at the yacht club.
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| Photo: 25 day old little ringed plover chick. |
5th July - male with chick on the foreshore, no sign of the
female. Although the chick can obviously fly, it's flight feathers are
clearly not yet fully grown so I don't expect it to leave for another week
or so at least. Once again the male was seen to brood the chick. 8pm, male
and chick again on the foreshore, the chick briefly had a fly around.
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| Photo: Little ringed plover 26 days old. |
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| Photo: Little ringed plover 26 days old. |
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Photo: Male little ringed plover brooding 26 day old chick |
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Photo: Male little ringed plover with 26 day old chick. |
6th July - male little ringed plover with chick on foreshore. Chick
flew off across the water with the adult in pursuit and I thought that
they were going to go, but after about 10m the chick turned and came back
to the foreshore. Redshank on the shoreline.
7th July - 7.30am, male with juvenile on the grassy mound with the picnic tables adjacent to the foreshore, also 150 coot, 50 canada geese and 2 redshank on the shoreline. Three crows came quite close to the chick and the adult adopted it's broken wing distraction display and the crows lost interest and left. At 9am the juvenile and adult flew quite high and I thought they were about to leave, but they turned and came back. I estimate that they climbed to a height of about 20m and made a round flight of about 300m, by far the most impressive flight I've seen so far by the juvenile. The juvenile is now as big as the adult. 2.30pm, male and juvenile again on grassy mound.
This juvenile could fly at day 24, but only really to avoid predators, it's flight feathers were not fully grown and it probably wasn't capable of long distant flight. Today is day 28 and I've seen it fly 300m. So the question is, when is a wader chick considered to have fledged? John Walters in his 1960 study states that "In all cases the birds were considered to have fledged when they could avoid capture by flying", so in this case, 24 days. The BTO website states that they fledge between 25-27 days.
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| Photo: Little ringed plover chick 27 days old. |
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| Photo: Little ringed plover chick 27 days old. |
7th July - 7.30am, male with juvenile on the grassy mound with the picnic tables adjacent to the foreshore, also 150 coot, 50 canada geese and 2 redshank on the shoreline. Three crows came quite close to the chick and the adult adopted it's broken wing distraction display and the crows lost interest and left. At 9am the juvenile and adult flew quite high and I thought they were about to leave, but they turned and came back. I estimate that they climbed to a height of about 20m and made a round flight of about 300m, by far the most impressive flight I've seen so far by the juvenile. The juvenile is now as big as the adult. 2.30pm, male and juvenile again on grassy mound.
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| Photo: Juvenile little ringed plover 28 days old. |
This juvenile could fly at day 24, but only really to avoid predators, it's flight feathers were not fully grown and it probably wasn't capable of long distant flight. Today is day 28 and I've seen it fly 300m. So the question is, when is a wader chick considered to have fledged? John Walters in his 1960 study states that "In all cases the birds were considered to have fledged when they could avoid capture by flying", so in this case, 24 days. The BTO website states that they fledge between 25-27 days.
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Photo: Adult and juvenile little ringed plover 28 days old. |
Little ringed plovers have very long tertial feathers which almost cover the primaries. In the case of the juvenile these are dark centered.
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Photo: Juvenile little ringed plover 28 days old with down-streamers. |
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Photo: juvenile little ringed plover, 28 days old. |
8th July - 8am, male and juvenile little ringed plover on the
shoreline feeding. The juvenile is now 29 days old and it's flight
feathers now look about fully grown to me. Common sandpiper also
present.
Other than the downy feathers on the nape and the down-streamers, this
bird is almost in full juvenile plumage
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| Photo: Little ringed plover 29 days old. |
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| Photo: Little ringed plover 29 days old. |
9th July - 8am, a single little ringed plover flew calling from
the shoreline as soon as I arrived. I didn't see enough of it to be sure
if it was an adult or the juvenile, I suspect the former. I had a good
walk around the yacht club but could find no further sign of any little
ringed plover. It's impossible to say if the bird I saw flying away was
one of the family or a different bird altogether, but either way it
looks like they've gone now. I suppose it's possible that they're just
on the other side of the flash and I might still see them again. With a
survival rate of around 30%, getting one or two chicks to fledge is
about normal for little ringed plover. Meanwhile the first juvenile
common tern I have seen this year was sitting on a bouy just offshore.
It's the time of year for juveniles to be moving around.
References
References
Hayman P., Marchant J. & Prater T. (1986), Shorebirds An identification guide, Croom Helm
Walters J. (1961) Notes on the chicks of the Little Ringed Plover, Bird Study 8:1, 15-18
Nethersole-Thompson D. & M. (1986), WADERS their breeding, haunts and watchers, T & AD Poyser
Hello Collin, an amazing job and effort of you for making it possible for the Plovers to rear their young. One did succeed to grow up. Hope it will have a long life.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Roos