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| A juvenile Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius) |
So, here are the facts:
- They are found in all of England apart from the North and South-West. They are also found in most of East Wales except from the North-East.
- There are only 1,200 - 1,300 breeding pairs in the UK and in Europe between 70,000 and 115,000 pairs.
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| Looking for a bite to eat |
- Despite this rather small national number, they still have a Green Status. This is because there hasn't been a decline recently...
- ...It's also because in the 1930's they were quite rare visiting birds here but, because of their liking to breed in Gravel Pits, they started to live and breed here!
- While we're on the topic of their habitat, they like to live in Gravel Pits, sewage works, reservoirs and Shingle Beaches.
- They only usually breed for half of their life. They start breeding at 2 years and live an average of 4. The oldest was 6 years 8 months and 14 days.
- They are usually 14 cm long with a much larger 45 cm wingspan and both Males and Females weigh 40g.
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| Two of them were watching me! |
- Their ring size is B2. I have never encountered a B2 ring size before. When I was ringing with the East Dales Ringing Group they didn't mention this at all.
- For their diet they feed mainly on insects and invertebrates that they find just below the surface of wet ground.
- They are very similar to the Ringed Plover but are slightly smaller (only 1-2cm less in length) a bit slimmer and have slightly longer legs. Their dull pink leg colour, eye ring and slightly different head markings are the main differences.
Here are some links to some more information:
Hope you enjoyed,
Z.
Lovely little birds Zach and great shots as always! - Tasha
ReplyDeleteThanks as always Tasha :-)
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