The grey plover is a chunky plover, larger than the similar golden plover. The grey plover can be found along the coast, preferring sandy and muddy estuaries. Although a small number of birds stay during summer, this is really a winter migrant, arriving here from July, peaking in autumn, and leaving from April onwards the following year. Like other plovers, it forages for marine invertebrates and crustaceans in a particular way: standing and watching, running forward, pecking, then standing still again.
How to identify
The grey plover is similar to the golden plover, but is bigger and greyer, with a sturdier black bill and long black legs. It has a spotted, white and silvery-grey back, and pale grey and white underparts. In spring, adults sport a black throat, chest and belly as they make their way north to their breeding grounds.
Did you know?
Known in North America as the 'black-bellied plover', the grey plover breeds in Arctic coastal regions across the north of Alaska, Canada and Russia. It nests on the ground in shallow scrapes created in dry, open tundra.
