E. Fojt et al., Comparison of the breeding habitats of Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius and Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus on a shingle bed, BIRD STUDY, 47, 2000, pp. 8-12
The breeding habitat preferences of Kentish Plover and Little Ringed Plover
were studied on a shingle bed. The location of each nest was measured as t
he distance to the sea wall, nearest pond and nearest path. The habitat sur
rounding nests was measured at radii of 0.15 m and 15 m as the proportional
cover of shingle, gravel, sand, live and dead vegetation. When all variabl
es were considered simultaneously, the differences between the habitats use
d by the species were related to the cover of shingle within 15 m of the ne
st and the distance to the sea wall. Nest sites located close to the sea wa
ll and with high shingle cover almost always belonged to Kentish Plover, wh
ile those more distant and with low shingle cover almost always belonged to
Little Ringed Plover. Plovers used areas which had been stable for longer
and hence were colonized by vegetation. This study suggests that management
which maintains a high proportion of exposed substrate on shingle beds wil
l increase their suitability for Kentish Plover.