Walking along Snettisham beach, it is often the vastness that captivates me and with a bitter wind biting at your cheeks its often easy to sink down into the warmth your scarf, head on to the wind, eyes to the floor! The ringed plovers often take on a similar silhouette - finding piles of washed up hornwrack to take shelter, they will hunker down, bill into the wind, head sunk down into the warmth of their dense feathers, eyes shut to the wind-blown sand. All the while, totally hidden amongst the hues of soft grey like little, grey ghosts on the strandline. Its not surprising then that it’s felt very quiet with seemingly very little sign of nesting birds on the sand!
It’s not until we pause and take time to watch them, that their incredible stories come to life for us. With the warm spells of sun cutting the chill in the air too we have been seeing a lot more action on the upper shore this week. The Plovers in Peril team have had binoculars glued to the shingle watching the pairs digging out sand and shingle to form their scrapes (or nests)- a few of which may soon hold their precious cargo – a fragile clutch of eggs!
The building of the scrape is an intricately considered affair and one that both the male and female will invest. This is no ordinary nest and you may be surprised to know that there is not a twig in sight. They are but small hollows dug out by hand (or should I say foot) from the sand and single, rounded by the bird as they shimmy their bellies down into it and rotate carefully around and around – quite dizzying to watch! Some birds will adorn their scrapes with things they find lying about nearby – with a keen eye for an accent they take care in choosing delicate pieces of shell, small pebbles or pieces of dried seaweed or found objects to line the scrape - The Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen of Plover circles. Other, more Peter Zumthor-esque individuals like to keep things minimal, clearly these birds feel that the scrapes unembellished beauty speaks for itself.
Scraping ringed plover by Phill Gwilliam
The pair will begin scrape building early on, sometimes with multiple scrapes being made. These will also be used as a focal part of their nesting displays which will get more intense before egg laying. Ringed Plovers even have a ‘scrape ceremony’. First the male will stand on the edge of the scrape, calling to the female. He will then create a canopy with his wings, stretching them out like a parasol and fanning his tail. The female steps down into the scrape underneath the canopy made by the male - their very own beach canopy for two! He will then gently fold in his wings and tail and move about the scrape picking at small pieces of stone or shell before returning to the female.
When the female is ready to lay, they will choose a scrape – one they deem the safest haven for her clutch of eggs and will remain here to incubate the eggs together until they hatch.
As a visitor to the beach you can help these birds ensure the scrape they choose remains a safe one to raise a family by keeping your distance - walking along the shoreline or coastal path and keeping dogs on leads from April to end of August. The eggs are beautifully camouflaged to keep them hidden from predators looking for a meal, but this also makes them impossible for us to see too and as a result they are incredibly vulnerable to being crushed underfoot.
Ringed plover nest with eggs by Kevin Sawford RSPB images
By staying low to the waters edge or coastal paths with dogs on leads we can minimise the chances of losing these precious eggs unnecessarily as well as minimising disturbance to those hard-working parent birds as they carefully tend their eggs in all weathers.
As lockdown eases and we are ATLAST (breathes glorious sigh of relief) able to get out and about to enjoy our beaches, please give these birds a thought – the challenges for them are only just beginning!
Let’s #EnjoyRespectProtect
See you on the beach!
Wynona
Plovers in Peril Project Officer
wynona.legg@rspb.org.uk
Volunteers on Snettisham Beach