Plover Appreciation Day 2020

Well, all I can say is that we hope the plovers appreciate the effort we put in to celebrate them!

We were after just 4 species that can be found at this time of year; Northern Lapwing, plus Grey, European Golden and Common Ringed Plovers. The Little Ringed Plover and Eurasian Dotterel which both breed in the UK were a long shot. Both are breeding visitors and would probably have travelled south already, added to which the Dotterels are scarce in the autumn. They tend to overfly our part of the world in their haste to get somewhere south of us, which will be warmer and provide better feeding for the months to come. The other ‘British’ plover is the Kentish Plover which formerly bred in small numbers on the South coast but now is a real rarity in the UK despite being named after a British County.

Here are some Wader Quest posters about the British Plovers:

• Northern Lapwing
• Grey Plover
• European Golden Plover
• Common Ringed Plover
• Other plovers.

Plover Appreciation Day started in Australia in 2015 as an awareness raising event to support the conservation of Hooded and Red-capped Plovers along with other beach nesting birds and has been adopted by concerned parties, like Wader Quest, all over the world, reflecting the global problems facing the charming and endearing little birds.