Heacham & Snettisham beach signs: ‘Plovers in Peril' in RSPB, borough council and Wild Ken Hill campaign - Lynn News Washed Up column
Washed Up by Sarah Juggins
If you have visited Heacham or Snettisham Beach recently, you may have spotted signage that declares ‘Plovers in Peril’.
Taking a moment to read the signs and you will quickly learn that the characterful little wading bird, the ringed plover, is in sharp decline. The reasons are multitudinous but among the key factors are predation by species such as stoats, foxes and hedgehogs, changing tide patterns due to climate change; and development work that is reducing their nesting and feedings areas.
These things we cannot, as individuals, do much about. Over time, given a chance, the ringed plover will learn to adapt to these environmental pressures.
Nature has a clever way of doing that, but it takes time and the dwindling ringed plover population doesn’t have time on its side.
The RSPB, supported by King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council and Wild Ken Hill, are running a five year Plovers in Peril campaign to raise awareness and protect the nesting grounds for the ringed plovers and other beach nesting birds.
This involves fencing off areas of the beach where the birds nest and trying to get the community engaged with the idea of giving nature a home.
Predictably, while the majority of people are both compassionate enough to recognise that the birds need our help and considerate enough to follow the advice and stay away from the nesting area, there are a handful of people who just don’t get it.
In some ways you can sympathise. The beach is a space that people love to roam all over. Picnics high on the shore line, among the tussocks looking out as the sun sets over The Wash are lovely moments in time.
Wandering along the shore line while your dog runs freely is a glorious thing to do. A gambolling dog charging all over the beach sets any dog lovers heart alight.
But, camouflaged among the stones and pebbles on the beach will be a little bird on a nest, bravely holding on until the last possible moment before taking to the skies as the galloping paws of a dog or the footfall of a human gets unbearably close.
The bird flies up, the foot or paw lands and the egg is squashed or the chick is flattened. Even if they survive, the parent may not return. It is another few ringed plovers lost due to our inability to live within the natural world.
