It nests on the ground, laying four yellowish eggs blotched with brown. The ringed plover Charadrius hiaticula , with a black and white face, and black band on the throat, is found on British shores, nesting in a scrape on a beach or amongst shingle. The largest of the ringed plovers is the killdeer Charadrius vociferus , so called because of its cry. The little ringed plover Charadrius dubious is found in the south of England breeding in gravel pits. Another plover seen in Britain is the grey plover Pluvialis squatarola similar in build to the golden plover but stouter and a mottled grey above in winter.
Underparts also become black during the breeding season.
The grey plover does not breed in Britain but winters around British coasts in large numbers. The Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus formerly lived in fair numbers in Sussex and Kent but has not bred since 1956. Increased human disturbance as well as egg collecting have been blamed.