Grey Plover

Pluvialis squatarola

Feadóg ghlas

Mud Plover, Strand Plover, Sea Plover, Silver Plover

Status: Winter visitor from Siberia - first birds arrive in Ireland and Britain towards the end of July but most here between September & April.

Conservation Concern: Amber-listed  as the majority of Grey Plovers winter at less than ten sites. The European population is considered to be Secure.

Identification: Big and bulky plover, large head and heavy bill. Posture hunched and feeding action pondorous. Black axilliaries, bold white wing-bar and white rump diagnostic in flight.

Call: Call is mournful, trisyllabic whistle, the middle lower-pitched, occasionally stressed - 'peee-uu-ee'.

Diet: Feeds on a wide variety of burrowing intertidal invertebrates, particularly polychaete worms, molluscs and crustaceans.

Breeding: Breeds across the high arctic regions of Russia & North America.

Wintering: Distribution in Ireland is widespread, but exclusively coastal. They occur mostly along eastern and southern coasts, most often on large muddy estuaries. They regularly roost among dense flocks during high tide, while their distribution is more scattered while feeding.

Where to see: Wexford Harbour & Slobs in County Wexford, Dublin Bay in County Dublin, Ballymacoda in County Cork, Dungarvan Harbour in County Waterford and the Shannon & Fergus Estuary in County Clare support most birds (400-1,200 birds).

Monitored by: Irish Wetland Bird Survey.