Meet the Animals
Little ringed plover
Where & when to see them
- Seen from March-September in most of England and some of Wales. Very rare in Scotland.
- Look to shingle at river and lake sides and man-made reservoirs and gravel pits.
More about this species
- RSPB
- Birds of Britain
- Bird Guides
- BTO: Breeding birds survey
- Birdwatch: Which ringed plover?
- The Guardian: Mixed fortunes for UK plovers
- The Guardian: Watching plovers with Stephen Moss
Last year on Springwatch we featured two little ring plover families, rather catchily named LRP1 and LRP2. This year we have another family. Hopefully they'll have better weather than last year.
Missed something? Catch up with the new LRP family here.
Species information
Not to be confused with the similar looking ringed plover, the little ringed plover is a small wading bird with distinctive dark markings around the head, black bill and a yellow eye ring. Interestingly, this little bird will feign injury to draw danger away from its young.
Being a freshwater wading bird, the little ringed plover inhabits shingly river banks and lakes. Cleverly it's exploited man-made places such as gravel pits, reservoirs and disused industrial sites. It will nest in hollows in the ground and surrounded by pebbles.
The little ringed plover spends the winter south of the Sahara before arriving in the UK around March. It's a fairly recent visitor though: the first record of a breeding pair in the UK was in 1938.
How to help
Join your local RSPB group to find out more about and help with the conservation of the little ringed plover. You can also help the BTO record bird migration and distribution throughout the UK with BirdTrack.
Latest Updates
Friday 12th June
Latest news from the little ringed plovers is that our female now has three eggs with the intruding male.
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Tuesday 9th June
Bad news – the remaining three chicks have been found dead. Was it the new male or the bad weather? We just don't know...
Thursday 4th June
More drama is unfolding. This time it's our little ringed plover family. Are we witnessing another case of infanticide like we saw from the swallows last year? Keeping watching to find out.
Wednesday 3rd June
We are keeping our fingers crossed for all four of the little ringed plover chicks.
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A reminder from 2008
Last years little ringed plover families didn't have it easy. From the will or won't the LRP1's eggs hatch to the peril of LRP2's eggs nearly being washed away with all the rain. As you'll remember things turned out okay in the end. Watch the moment a little ringed plover took its first unsteady steps.
Key links
-
Pensthorpe Nature Reserve & Gardens
Host of Springwatch 2009. -
Your ringed plover picture
View one of your amazing plover pictures in the Springwatch Flickr group.
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