Steve and I had a good day birding yesterday – we had a long slow walk around St Mary’s and found a few new migrants including grasshopper warbler, a black redstart, a lesser whitethroat and four golden plover in summer plumage in a field at Peninnis. We also saw the Montagu’s harrier over High Moors.
Golden plovers breed in the uplands of Britain (and elsewhere in Europe) and then migrate south for the winter – many spend their winters on our estuaries and on Dartmoor.
The glover plover formerly bred on Dartmoor but it has failed to do so in the last decade.
Work is underway on Dartmoor to further restore the blanket bog and it is possible that this may encourage the species to return
However in all likelihood the golden plover is one of Devon’s first species of bird to become a casualty of climate change.
In the winter large flocks of golden plover can still be seen on Dartmoor – see here for a previous blog on wintering golden plovers on Dartmoor.
Terrific shots!