Ringed Plover Chicks Steal the Show at Embleton!
What a busy few months it has been for Rangers Richard and Katherine on the Northumberland Coast! We are roughly halfway through shore nesting bird season, and our shorebirds have been through a lot already!
With the help of our fantastic team of Ringed Plover Surveyors from Coast Care and caring members of the public, we have been alerted to nesting attempts from Spittal to Lynemouth, not just by ringed plovers but oystercatchers too. We have protected each nest with fencing and signage, but unfortunately not all nesting attempts have been successful. Despite protection, heavy disturbance, high spring tides and natural predation by crows and gulls have been the cause of some nest failures.
An adult ringed plover closely watching over her chicks
However, ringed plovers are incredibly resilient birds, and most pairs which have lost nests have relayed eggs close by and are making a second attempt at having a successful season. We are keeping a close eye on all of our nesting pairs and will keep you updated on their progress on our social media channels – simply search Space for Shorebirds on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
One site in particular which we have been monitoring extremely closely is Embleton Bay. For the first time in over 25 years, ringed plovers have nested at the site and the reason why they have chosen this spot this year is due to the dynamic nature of the coastal zone – sand is constantly shifting due to wave and wind action. From one year to the next, the landscape can change, which is exactly what has happened at Embleton Bay this year. Winter storms have dramatically changed the appearance of the section of beach by Dunstanburgh Castle Golf Course. The formation of a sand bank caused The Skaith burn to flow in a direction it hasn’t done before, eroding the sand dunes to the south and creating an elevated shingle spit on the beach.
The Skaith burn at Embleton Bay
The creation of this new habitat attracted the attention of a pair of ringed plovers, which made a nest on the high ground on the spit. With ringed plover breeding success in decline, to give these birds a helping hand we protected the nest with fencing and signage to keep people and dogs at a safe distance from the nest and prevent the eggs from being trampled.
For 25 days the parents sat tight incubating their eggs, and their efforts were rewarded when, on 7th June, 4 chicks hatched. Resembling small balls of fluff, the chicks are precocial, meaning at just a few hours old they leave the nest and start to feed for themselves. Washed up dry seaweed and other debris on the sand is full of tiny sandhoppers and other invertebrates that are a vital food source to the chicks, and also provide excellent places to hide amongst when the parents tell them danger is close by. Crows, gulls and kestrels will take chicks, so it is important that the young birds respond to calls to “stay still, stay hidden”.
One of the four ringed plover chicks at Embleton – only four days old!
As the days pass, the chicks are becoming stronger and more curious of their surroundings. To keep them safe, we have increased the size of the protected area to give them as much space as we can for safe foraging and exploring, while still allowing good access for people. We have also deployed chick shelters – small wooden ‘huts’ to give them cover during poor weather.
A chicks shelter giving the young birds a place of refuge from predators or bad weather
From the moment of hatching, it takes the chicks roughly 24 days to learn how to fly. Rangers will be at the site monitoring their progress closely and talking to visitors about the birds and the challenges they face.
We would like to say a big thank you to local residents for the support we have received over the past few weeks – we are thrilled to see so many people taking an interest in, and learning about, the birds.
Please, if you are out on the coast over the next few weeks, continue to look out for our nest protection sites and keep well back to from the fence. As the chicks get older and more inquisitive, they may not necessarily stay within the fenced area, so best to give the protection sites a wide berth to avoid causing disturbance to the birds. Thank you.
An adult ringed plover watching over his chicks
Good luck out there, little ones! We are rooting for you!
