Scientific name: Pluvialis squatarola (Linnaeus, 1758)
Bird group: Waders
Field characters. 27-30 cm. In breeding plumage with spangled silver-grey upperparts; underparts, face and breast black, separated by broad, white band from upperparts. Vent, rump, and tail white, the last with indistinct black bars. In flight black axillaries form diagnostic black wing-pit, contrasting with white underwing and white sides to chest; whitish wing-bar visible in flight. Adult in winter with ashy-brown upperparts and pale underparts. Juvenile resembles young European Golden Plover, with upperparts spangled and tinged yellowish, but has black wing-pit, whitish rump and tail, and whitish wing-bar in flight. Bill black, legs grey-black.
Voice. Flight call is a mournful, trisyllabic "plee-uu-wee".
Distribution. Common migrant and winter visitor in North Sea countries and southern Europe.
Habitat. Breeds on tundra; outside the breeding season, frequents sea coasts, concentrating in the intertidal zone, mudflats, and sandy beaches.
Food. Feeds in run-stop-peck manner, taking chiefly worms, decapods, insects and other terrestrial invertebrates; diet varies between different areas, depending on availability of prey.