Dotterel, Charadrius morinellus

Local status: Very rare spring passage migrant

This species usually turns up on spring migration between mid April and mid May, when small flocks or ‘trips’ appear for a day or two in arable fields, before continuing north. Six of the nine records conform to the expected pattern, but three records from the Lower Derwent Valley are remarkable, appearing in late winter and early spring. Dotterels do occasionally spend the winter in the UK with flocks of Golden Plovers, Pluvialis apricaria and it is likely these birds had done this, rather than just having started their spring migration much earlier than normal. Patient searching of spring pea fields across the area should lead to the discovery of more trips of Dotterels in the York area

Records:
2010: East Cottingwith – Ellerton, 3rd May. Two.
2000: North Duffield Carrs, 18th February.
1999: Ellerton, 3rd April. Two.
1998: North Duffield Carrs, 2nd May. One.
1993: Wheldrake Ings, 8th March.
1990: Snargate, near Brandsby, 20th April. Five.
1983: Church Fenton, 6th May. Nine.
1982: Escrick, 20th April.
1971: Cawood, 25th May.
1970: Strensall Common, 15th to 16th May. Three.