Ringed Plover - 1949

Charadruis hiaticula hiaticula

Numerous winter visitor.  Breeding Newport, Newgale, Freshwater West, near Tenby, and probably elsewhere.

R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society

Ringed Plover - 2003-07

Within Pembrokeshire, the status of Ringed Plovers and their distribution has remained pretty well unchanged over the last c. 20 years. The table suggests a decline in the number of tetrads in which Ringed Plovers were found, but during the 1984-88 period two tetrads included birds that were most likely to have been migrants as there was no confirmed or probable breeding reported.

A single pair bred in each of the five years 2003-07 on the Castlemartin Range. The nest site is on the cliff-top above Wind Bay near Linney Head. In 2007 a second pair held territory for a short time in May and early June above Berryslade, a little way west of Wind Bay, but were not proven to have nested. Several other Ringed Plovers stayed into early June on nearby Frainslake Beach but no breeding occurred here, or in dune hollows in Brownslade Burrows where they have bred in the last decade, but outside the atlas period. The Castlemartin site was not known to be occupied in 1984, but has been in regular occupancy since around 1990.

The main nesting habitat at Castlemartin is open, exposed stony limestone terrain directly above c. 30 metre high sea cliffs, contiguous with short herb-rich and invertebrate-rich maritime grassland turf where the birds often feed. Here a small area of limestone clitter provides suitable bare ground for a nest scrape, sufficient to hide cryptically marked eggs. There are numerous boulders and crevices for chicks to hide from predators and to shelter under. Sometimes two clutches are laid over a breeding season which extends from May to August.

Despite being within a busy army training range, and with a metalled road running along-side the breeding site, the plovers are afforded reasonable levels of protection. The breeding location is identified as a “sensitive area” on estate management maps, and there is usually very little military activity close to the nest site.

Because it is an active military range, relatively few people currently visit the area, unless they are briefed and are undertaking approved activities. Guided walking groups and climbers are briefed annually about seasonal bird nesting restrictions, which covers the plover nesting zone, to minimise disturbance to cliff-nesting birds. The plovers are also monitored each year to help ensure appropriate protection measures are adequate and up to date.

Tetrads in which registered (based on 490 tetrads) = 2 (0.4%)

Bob Haycock

Ringed Plover - 1994

Passage migrant, formerly bred

The Ringed Plover nested at many places on the coast according to Mathew (1894), and was still a widespread breeder in the time of Lockley et al. (1949), who noted Newport, Newgale, Freshwater West and Tenby as localities. However, Lockley (1957) describes their status as "a few pairs nest where there are suitable banks of shingle and sand". It has since become sporadic as a breeding species, suitable beaches being increasingly popular for human recreation. Other records are a pair nesting on the clifftop at St Govan's in 1962, an occasional pair within the tank ranges of Castle Martin noted by Saunders (1976), four pairs breeding on bare ground in the Texaco Oil Refinery in 1978 and two pairs nesting at Linney Head and two more at the site of the old Esso oil refinery, Herbrandston, in 1992.

Mathew (1894) stated that large flocks arrive in the autumn and Lockley et al. (1949) that it was a numerous winter visitor. However, Lloyd's records between 1925 and 1937 suggest a winter status similar to that of the present day. Counts from the Cleddau Estuary, the principal locality, demonstrate the general pattern and scale of occurrence (see Table 7). Peaks averaged 210 at the Cleddau between the winters of 1969/70 and 1975/76 (Prys-Jones 1989). Smaller numbers, up to 40, at the Teifi and Nevern estuaries follow a similar pattern. Elsewhere the Ringed Plover is erratic, and a survey of the outer coastline in 1985 located just 26 birds.

Small numbers are seen passing headlands, and occasionally visit the islands, in April and May and again between August and October. A chick ringed at Criccieth in 1957 was recovered on the Cleddau Estuary on10 March 1958.

Tetrads in which registered (based on 478 tetrads)= 3 (0.6%)

Donovan J.W. & Rees G.H (1994), Birds of Pembrokeshire

Ringed Plover - 1970s breeding

Red = breeding confirmed

Orange = breeding probable

Yellow = breeding possible

Ringed Plover - 1980s winter atlas

The BTO winter atlas showed that Ringed Plovers were present in some coastal and all estuarine 10km squares during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84.

The darker the colour, the higher the relative total count for each 10km square.  The darkest blue represents 19-60 birds.

The largest numbers were found within the Cleddau Estuary.

Graham Rees 

Ringed Plover - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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