I thought I had lost the video of the extraordinary Broken Wing Display from a Ringed Plover, seen at Tide Mills on 03.05.22. But today I found it in a blog post I wrote four years ago Newhaven Port Nature Reserve/Tide Mills: birds & flowering plants seen on 03.05.22 This was one of the most remarkable things I have ever seen a bird do.
I took this video at 800mm zoom, so I was a long way from the bird. Initially I thought one of these Ringed Plovers had hurt its wing, then, as there was another Ringed Plover watching, I thought it was breeding behaviour. But I did some on-line research, and found this: ringed plovers are too small to fend off a crow or gull through aggression so they use a more sneaky tactic, they pretend to be injured! A ringed plover will feign having a broken wing and run away from the nest, the predator, assuming the adult is now an easy target, will chase after it. Once the adult ringed plover has lured the predator far from the nest it will suddenly fly away. The predator now has not caught the adult nor is it able to find the nest having left it behind. The plover can then go back to incubating the eggs or caring for the chicks. Defending the Nest – LIVE: Teaching Through Nature I think this must have been what this Ringed Plover was doing; as on the beach there were Carrion Crows and Herring Gulls around, and people with dogs off leads; from Newhaven Port Nature Reserve/Tide Mills: birds & flowering plants seen on 03.05.22
The broken-wing display. Depicted is a common ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula). Illustration by L. de Framond.
The broken-wing display is a well-known and conspicuous deceptive signal used to protect birds’ broods against diurnal terrestrial predators. Although commonly associated with shorebirds, it remains unknown how common the behaviour is across birds and what forces are associated with the evolution of the display. Here, [in the article] we use the broken-wing display as a paradigmatic example to study the evolution of a behaviour across Aves. We show that the display is widespread: it has been described in 52 families spread throughout the phylogeny, suggesting that it independently evolved multiple times. Léna de Framond, Henrik Brumm, Wren I. Thompson, Shane M. Drabing, Clinton D. Francis; The broken-wing display across birds and the conditions for its evolution. Proc. R. Soc. B 1 March 2022; 289 (1971): 20220058. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0058
Charming little bird, it calls you from the shoreline “poo-ee, Poo ee, POO, EE” without any thought for your feelings. It is also a deceitful bird that will happily feign a broken wing to lure predators away from its nest. It also likes to get its prey moving by laying down some cool beats by tapping its foot on the ground in a hypnotising rhythm.
It’s burglar-like appearance, with its natty banded mask, is another one of its deceits as it rarely steals or shares its food. A brace of ringed plovers can be seen feeding off of flies, spiders, worms, crustaceans, and molluscs.
The ringed plover travels vast distances to feed on our shores, from Canada and Greenland. Whilst stocking up on energy, we need to give the birds some space. The ringed plover is protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and is on the Red List. Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula) | Bird Wise East Kent
Tide Mills is now a completely depopulated ruin, with a sad history of the poverty of the Mill workers and the appalling treatment disabled children condemned to a residential “marine” school where they immersed in sea water and exposed to the elements.
Nature has reclaimed the settlements of Tide Mills
The history of the hamlet is outlined in this interactive website: Explore The Lost Village of Tide Mills – The Tide Mills Project
I produced a series of photographic still-lives of vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes at Tide Mills, published here: Six photographic still lives: vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens in the ruins of Tide Mills and the Chailey Heritage Marine Hospital, 12.08.24
Tide Mills is also the home of the now rare Adder’s-Tongue Fern, see: Uncovering the secrets of Tide Mills, Newhaven: Adder’s-Tongue Fern, Sedge Warblers & Reed Warblers singing, and a Cunning Fox on Thursday 03.05.24
Just after the COVID lockdown “Stay at Home” order was legally lifted on March 29, 2021, I visited Tide Mills and shot these photographic landscape views of Tide Mills Views of Tide Mills
