However, you will most likely have to venture to the polar tundra to see this striking wader at its black-bellied best

Any bird with “grey” in its name is not likely to make the average birder quiver with excitement. And it is true that in winter, when grey plovers visit our shores from the high Arctic, they are easy to overlook, especially among the spectacular flocks of lapwings, golden plovers and avocets on my Somerset coastal patch.

Stout and unassuming, grey plovers usually lurk on the edge of the mud beneath the sea wall, patiently picking off shellfish and marine worms with their short bills. Only when they take to the wing do they reveal a dark black “armpit”, contrasting with their pale underwings – a useful field mark that helps distinguish them from their close relative the golden plover.