White-tailed Plover Caerlaverock WWT, Dumfries and Galloway 6th June 2007
Around 10:30am news broke of a White-tailed Plover at Caerlaverock WWT reserve on 6th June. I was in the fortunate position to be able to go straight away and see the bird so made my way up. It was still present four and a half hours later when I reached the reserve but unfortunately there was a que to get in the hide and the bird was not currently on show so none of the birders in the hide were moving. Half an hour later I could hear cries of "there it is" and "directions please". It didn't take too long to get into the hide and once in the bird was on show at around 100yds range. It was a bit of a struggle setting up the camera in cramped conditions but everyone was quite tolerant of each other considering the conditions. Not the best shots but good enough to look back on as a reminder of the day.
The first british record of this species was at Packington Gravel Pits in Warwickshire from 12th to 18th July 1975 when an influx of 8 birds were recorded in western europe. Other records were in 1979 (1 Chesil Cove, Dorset on 3rd July. Thanks to Nigel Driver for the correction) and 1984 2 (telford, shropshire 24th to 25th may and cleadon, durham 21st may which may have referred to the same bird). The White-tailed Plover breeds in Iraq, Iran and southern Russia spending the winter in south asia, middle east and north east africa.
The bird was still present the next day however at 7:50am it took flight gaining height only to return some half an hour later. This was a test flight that I have seen many birds do to see if the conditions are right to move off. Clearly the light north easterlies are not what it was looking for.
The White-tailed Plover has a supporting cast suggesting a dispersal as in 1975. This year two others have been recorded in neighbouring countries:
1 on 24th May Kalmar, Sweden
1 on 19th May Busemarke Mose, Mon, Denmark
