Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)

OTHER NAMES: Ringed Plover, Bull's-Eye, Ring Dotterel, Shell-turner

Latin Etymology: Charadrius (from the Vulgate Bible) hiaticula ("cleft dweller")

Adult Ringed Plover (subspecies C. h. hiaticula) at Herne Bay, Kent -  February 2011

Featured Subspecies: Charadrius hiaticula hiaticula 
Weight: 55-75g  /  Length: 19cm  /  Wingspan: 48-57cm

UK AMBER LIST / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

Similar looking to the Little Ringed Plover, the Ringed Plover is a bird much more common on the coast than it's relative, which is more often found on inland gravel pits. However, the two do overlap so don't go by this alone - look closely in your birdbook to find the differences. At Winter around Herne Bay and Reculver they were numerous and often quite easy to photograph.

Related Species:

Order: Charadriiformes

Family: Charadridae

Genus: Charadrius
Subspecies: C. h. hiaticula, C. h. tundrae, C. h. psammodromus

- Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - Resident breeding species (5300-5600 pairs) and locally common Winter visitor (36,000 birds)

 - Birds seen at sites including Herne Bay, Oare Marshes, Farne Islands and Elmley Marshes

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto