Further to my last posting. This is the third consecutive year that Golden Plovers have been recorded displaying at Stone Moor during the spring/early summer; and indeed a pair were reported to have bred in 2011. Additionally John McLoughlin has reported a pair holding a breeding territory in the Whitley Common area this year. Golden Plover have been recorded at the latter locality regularly during the late spring/early summer over the past thirty-five years or so, but these were always thought to be non-breeding/failed breeding birds.
The prefered breeding areas of the Golden Plover in South Yorkshire are the high 'grassland' moors with areas of spagum moss bog and cotton grass. I have, though, occasionally found them in areas of short heather. But do they breed at lower elevations, as the above records may suggest??
I Don't think so Martin, they are birds of blanket bog, but like you say they do also nest on heather burns. It is the same as Wheatears and sometimes Short-eared owls hanging around in the lowlands until the end of May. But they don't breed.
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