Literature review to assess bird species connectivity to Special ...

Thompson, 1998). Other interactions with conspecifics on territories include songduels,
aggressive posturing, and charging (Cramp & Simmons, 1983).
2.13.5 Habitat use
Chick habitat choice
The South Pennines study found that golden plover chick home ranges included a
greater proportion of cotton grass and bare peat than was available across the study
area as a whole (Pearce-Higgins & Yalden, 2004). The habitat choices of chicks also
shifted slightly with age, with younger chicks tending to use cotton grass habitats
more, and older chicks tending to make more use of crowberry and bilberry habitats
(Pearce-Higgins & Yalden, 2004).
In the Durham study, chicks were found to select marshes, grassland and
Eriophorum vaginatum mire (Whittingham et al., 2001). Rank areas of heather were
avoided.
2.13.6 Winter behaviour
Winter movements
Golden plovers aggregate during the winter, mainly in coastal regions in Scotland
(Thompson, D.B.A. 2007). When severe frost and snow cover conditions persist,
large-scale movements to milder areas, such as south-west England, can occur
(Fuller & Lloyd, 1981). British wintering birds, in severe cold spells, may also fly to
Ireland or France (Kirby & Lack, 1993).
2.13.7 Dispersal
Chick dispersal
Golden plover chicks can leave the nest when just a day old. A study in the South
Pennines found that chicks, prior to fledging at around 37 days, occupied mean
home ranges of 40ha (range: 18.3 to 86.2ha). This average home range size is
equivalent to a distance of 350m (range: 240 to 520m), though some individuals have
been recorded occasionally moving up to 1km per day (Pearce-Higgins & Yalden,
2004).
A study in Durham followed radio-tagged chicks until they were 16 days old
(Whittingham et al., 2001). Mean chick foraging range sizes (based on minimum
convex polygons) were estimated for two sites: 3.41 ± 0.71ha at Chapell Fell; and
4.61 ± 1.60ha at Widdybank Fell (equivalent to distances of 100m and 120m,
respectively). It was also found that broods were able to move large distances, e.g.
700m in 24 hours, after disturbance by humans.
The Sutherland study found that birds moved progressively further away from the
nest site: 300 ± 100m from the nest in the first ten days after hatching; and up to 450
± 240m during days 21-30 after hatching (O’Connell et al., 1996 in Byrkjedal &
Thompson, 1998). The furthest distance moved by a brood was just less than 1km.
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