Nest‐site selection by golden plover: why do shorebirds avoid nesting on slopes?

It is widely known that many upland‐breeding shorebirds tend to nest on plateaus but to date no studies have put forward explanations for this phenomenon. We examined the effect of slope and habitat on the distribution of ground‐nesting golden plover Pluvialis apricaria at two study sites in County Durham, U.K. Golden plovers showed strong selection for nesting on flat ground. Habitat significantly affected nest‐site location on one study site (heather burnt within the past 2 years was favoured and older stands of heather were avoided) but not on the other. Fifty‐nine per cent of all nests failed. We attributed 95% of all losses to predation. Seventy‐five per cent of nests, in which the predator was identified, were taken by ground predators, mainly stoats Mustela erminea . Nests on flat ground had significantly higher rates of survival than those on slopes. Nest survival did not vary significantly with habitat type nor with vegetation height or density around the nest. Neither habitat type, vegetation height nor vegetation density around nests differed between nests on slopes and on flat ground. In addition, individuals that nested on flat ground tended to have less black on their underparts (a suggested indicator of dominance). We suggest that birds nesting on slopes are less efficient at avoiding nest predation than those nesting on the flat. The nature or degree of a bird's response to a predator may be related to the efficiency of individual anti‐predator responses and/or to visibility from the nest. This study cannot differentiate between these two explanations. We encourage further work to investigate differences in behaviour between individuals nesting on slopes and those on flat ground.