The River Exe – Grey Plover

We call the Grey Plover, Pluvialis squatarola, the Grey Plover in the UK because they are, most definitely, grey. They’re a beautiful, subtle-plumaged winter visitor to almost every coastal area around the world. They’re not so grey in their breeding season, though. They undergo a spectacular transformation of their plumage after they leave us into a bird it might be difficult to recognise.

They breed in the Arctic, in Alaska, Canada and Russia, where they are called the Black-Bellied Plover because of the males’ fabulous black-bellied plumage.