Dotterel
Charadrius morinellus
Dotterel
The dotterel is a small water that breeds on Rannoch’s mountain tops. I have seen dotterel on Carn Mearg and also on the Cairngorm plateau.
In winter the dotterel migrates to North Africa and the Middle East with a few going to Spain.
Dotterel are now rare but used to nest widely over the Highland of the UK. Part of the reason for their decline in numbers is that they were shot for ‘sport’, their plumage and for feathers for fishing flies. Their eggs were collected and taxidermists stuff them - no wonder there are not so many to be seen now. There is a Dotterel Inn near Filey where hunters used to shoot the flocks (called trips) in their stopping off places on the coast. In Cambridgeshire there are two Dotterel Halls and in North Yorkshire there is a Dotterel Farm.
Dotterel now have the highest level of legal protection as they are schedule 1 birds under the wildlife and countryside act of 1981. This is the same level of protection as Golden Eagles.
The females have brighter plumage than the males and it was discovered that it is the male which carries out the parental duties of incubating the eggs. If a male fails to find a mate he may move to another site to try again.
Creative Commons - Credit Richard Crossley
The call of the dotterel may be the first indication of their presence.