Field Guide
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Grey Plover
Pluvialis squatarola
Not yet photographed by the community
Black armpits distinctive in flight; winter estuary wader.
Species Profile
Green List (Winter)
- Lifespan
- 12–15 years in the wild
- Size & Weight
- 27–30 cm, wingspan 56–64 cm; 190–240 g
- Habitat
- Coastal mudflats, estuaries, salt marshes, and sandy shores; occasionally inland on reservoirs and flooded fields during migration.
- UK Distribution
- Winter visitor and passage migrant throughout the UK, particularly abundant on southern and eastern coasts from August to April. Rare breeder in northern Scotland.
- Diet
- Invertebrates including small crustaceans, marine worms, molluscs, and insects; picks food from mud and sand surfaces.
- Predators
- Peregrine falcons, golden eagles, foxes, and corvids (particularly to eggs and chicks); stoats and weasels in breeding areas.
- Mating Season
- May to July
- Breeding
- Clutch of 4 eggs; incubation period 26–27 days; single brood per year; chicks fledge at 35–45 days.
- Behaviour
- Highly gregarious in winter, often seen in loose flocks on estuaries. Displays distinctive hunched posture when at rest. Winters throughout coastal western Europe and Africa, with British birds belonging to the nomadic northern population.
- •Named 'Grey Plover' in North America and 'Grey Plover' in Britain; sometimes called 'Black-bellied Plover' due to its striking black underparts and white face markings in breeding plumage.
- •Possesses a distinctive four-toed foot with a vestigial hind toe, unique among plovers.
- •Undertakes one of the longest migrations of any shorebird, breeding in Arctic tundra and wintering in southern hemisphere regions.
- •The alarm call is a haunting, three-syllable whistle 'pee-oo-ee', distinctive and easily recognised on coastal mudflats.
- •Can reach speeds of up to 50 mph in flight and is capable of non-stop transoceanic migration flights lasting several days.
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