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58 Ringed Plover Chicks Fledged at Protected Norfolk Beaches in 2025, Up From 19 in 2021

Common Ringed Plover standing on a shingle beach
Conservation · Management

Fifty-eight common ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula) chicks fledged from protected nesting sites between Heacham and Snettisham on the north-west Norfolk coast in England in 2025, compared with 19 chicks when the Plovers in Peril project began in 2021. By 22 May 2026, the first chicks of the new breeding season had already hatched.

Ringed plovers nest directly on sand and shingle, scraping a shallow depression where their speckled eggs blend into the beach. The chicks leave the nest soon after hatching but cannot fly until they are about 25 days old. During this period they move beyond the nest scrape and are especially vulnerable to being separated from their parents, disturbed by people and dogs, or accidentally trampled.

Fledging rose from 19 chicks to 58

RSPB reported that 58 chicks successfully fledged from protected nesting sites between Heacham and Snettisham in 2025. That was just over three times the 19 chicks fledged in 2021, the first year of Plovers in Peril.

The project was created against a much longer regional decline. Norfolk’s breeding population fell from 514 pairs in 1984 to 123 pairs in 2018, a decline of about 77%. Coastal habitat change, development and increasing recreational use of sensitive nesting beaches have all contributed to the pressure on the species.

Protection focuses on the weeks before chicks can fly

Important nesting areas are roped off from March to September, and seasonal dog restrictions require dogs to be kept on short leads in sensitive areas. The barriers protect nests, but mobile flightless chicks can move outside the fenced sections, so volunteers also patrol the beaches and ask visitors to keep their distance.

The project is run by the RSPB in partnership with Wild Ken Hill. The 22 May 2026 update reported that the first chicks of the new season had hatched and that the protection work would continue through the summer.

The increase in fledged chicks occurred at sites receiving this protection, but the RSPB update is a project report rather than a controlled experiment comparing protected and unprotected beaches. It documents improved fledging output during the project period without isolating how much of the change was caused by each individual intervention.

Sources and image credit

  1. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. (2026, May 22). First Ringed Plover chicks of the season hatch on Norfolk coast.Primary conservation-organisation update published 22 May 2026. The RSPB reported the first Ringed Plover chicks of the 2026 season at Heacham and Snettisham. It also reported that 58 chicks fledged from protected sites in 2025, a 205% increase from 19 in 2021. Project measures include roping off important nesting sites from March to September, seasonal dog restrictions and volunteer engagement with beach visitors.

Image: Stig Nygaard / Wikimedia Commons — common ringed plover on a shingle beach at Slettestrand, Denmark, 4 August 2022; representative beach-habitat image, not a bird from the Norfolk project · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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