BIRD ON A SKYE WALK

Q

Can you identify this bird for me? I saw it early in the afternoon on 3 July, in an upland meadow on the lower slopes of the Cuillin Ridge on the Isle of Skye. There were two birds, similar in appearance. They seemed to be calling to one another, with a loud, single, repeated ‘peep’. Not my best photographs, I admit, but the birds quickly made off when we appeared and I was with two people more eager to start climbing than to pursue birds. Many thanks for your help. John Weeks

A

It is our pleasure to inform you, John, that the bird you encountered on your Skye walk was a Golden Plover. The classic plover shape – rounded features, shortish straight bill, large eye – are all obvious in your photo. Note also the golden and black spangled upperparts, the whitish underparts liberally splattered with black spots and the bold white supercilium (the pale ‘eyebrow’). All these features are typical of Golden Plover.

Plumage-wise, it is interesting in that the more northern breeders (from northern Fennoscandia, Iceland, and arctic Russia) have more solidly black underparts (including the face and breast); whereas southern breeders (such as in the UK) have more patchy black on the underparts, often with pale faces. The amount of black is reduced on female birds, which your plover may well be. Golden Plovers are upland breeders in the UK, and it is possible that your calling pair were keeping in contact with each other, and their ( presumably concealed) youngsters, as you and your party passed by.