A Killdeer in Hampshire 22nd January 2026

There have been 61 records of a Killdeer in Great Britain so it is considered a mega in twitcher parlance especially when found inland and in the knowledge they have latterly become even scarcer in Britain. It is a small and common North American wader superficially similar to our Ringed Plover although more slender in build with a noticeably longer tail and with two black bands across its chest rather than one.

A report  of this latest Killdeer first came on Wednesday the 21st of January when an astonished birder found it at Ripley Farm Reservoir in Hampshire. News was put out on Birdguides and Adam a fellow Oxonbirder sent me a text advising he was minded to go for it on Thursday as he had never seen one and would I care to join him. 

I did not need to be asked twice as I have only seen one in Britain before which coincidentally was also in winter but on Shetland in 2017 see here so it would be great to see another and much closer to home, requiring far less effort and expense. Peter who forms the third member of our casual twitching WhatsApp Group was also going to join us as he too had never seen a Killdeer in this country although Peter and myself have seen quite a few in North America.

Looking at images appearing on social media it looked like the bird was always going to be distant so there was no likelihood of getting a decent photo and also the weather forecast for the coming few days was predicting continuous rain so I abandoned any thoughts of carrying the camera and opted for scope and bins only.

Due to Adam having some private business to attend to the next morning we planned to leave Oxford in the late morning at around 1130, assuming the plover was reported earlier in the morning which it was. We met in a convenient free car park near the A34 which we would take south towards Hampshire.The weather as predicted was far from benign with virtually constant rain as Adam drove us for an hour and a half, the final part of our journey being along twisting narrow lanes until we came to the tiny hamlet of Ripley deep in the Hampshire countryside.and the laybys mentioned by Birdguides as the best place to park but with warnings of limited space. We were therefore surprised to  find plenty of room in the first layby we came to. I for one had assumed that this would be a very popular and well attended twitch, as the Killdeer was a very rare bird, relatively accessible in the most populated southern third of the country and had been found at a quiet time of the year with regard to rare birds.Surely everybody would want to see it?

We parked the car with ease and getting our boots and wet weather gear on headed for a nearby metal gate which we walked around and then crossed a narrow footbridge spanning a small river, which may have been a stream before all the rain, and finally walked down a long straight track with a pig farm on one side and the reservoir, in reality more a large lake in a field than a concrete encased waterbody, on the other.

Ripley Farm Reservoir

Walking to the end of the track we came to a very muddy open area with around thirty birders scoping the far bank of the reservoir.

There was no shortage of help or advice as to the plover's location and we were guided onto where it was within minutes, hunkered down on a fold of turf on the far shore.

It was just about visible in the gloomy conditions, facing away from us allowing a limited view of the back of its head and upperbody.It hardly moved for twenty minutes and looked thoroughly miserable as it occasionally bobbed its head in that way that plovers do.

A fellow birder almost overwhelmed by his waterproof hood peered out at me and told me it had been like this for almost an hour. Hardly moving.

The rain was by now falling steadily, insiduously attempting to penetrate my waterproof clothing.I was outwardly soaked although well protected but it was far from pleasant. The rain seemed to get everywhere despite my making as much effort as possible to keep my optics dry. 

Then a birder standing behind me almost casually remarked

There's an eagle behind us

I turned away from the plover to look where he pointed over the pig farm to the trees beyond and there in the sky  huge and unmistakeable was an eagle cruising towards us.

Another birder quite un-necessarily immediately bellowed

Eagle!!! at the top of his voice as if we were not already aware of its awesome presence 

It was an immature White tailed Eagle, undoubtedly from the release programme on the Isle of Wight which was not that far away as an eagle flies. The huge bird stooged around for a minute or two at no great height gradually turning southwestwards and was finally lost to view behind the trees 

I turned back to the Killdeer

The misery of standing exposed to the worst of our winter weather was finally alleviated as the plover sprang into action.

Maybe 'sprang' is over optimistic. It moved ever so slightly, turning sideways to expose its full body length, its black double breast bands and white underparts. 

Ever so slowly it stretched a wing revealing a long white wing bar and exposing a bright sandy orange rump.Nice, very nice indeed. 

Image of the one I saw on Shetland showing the rump and
wing bar to good effect

Then it began to move with more purpose, pattering along the grass then stooping to pick something from the ground in its ploverly way.. A couple of rapid runs took it some way along its favoured strip of grass before it stopped and indulged in that other plover trait of head bobbing and so it went on, the bird not really moving too far in the process and always remaining on the favoured grass strip

For around forty five minutes we enjoyed watching the bird and then seemed to arrive at a concensus that we were wet enough, had seen enough of the plover and now was a good time to leave. It was obvious the bird was going to remain forever distant and was unlikely to do anything much else than what we had observed a number of times already.

Back in the car I sat in a rain sodden lump, relieved to be out of the rain.We made a stop for some welcome tea, coffee and food in a nearby village before heading for Holbury, not too far away and where lurked the celebrated, long staying and mildly controversial Great tailed Grackle, another North American avian immigrant, in its favourite garden at Southmoor Avenue. Peter had not seen this species either here or in America so a lifer was in prospect.Who was I to dissent, although having been to see the grackle twice already.

Parking outside its favourite house it took all of seconds to locate the grackle perched on top of a pole. Sadly the gloomy overcast conditions did no favours to its usually magnificent iridescent plumage but at least Peter had his lifer. 

The grackle in better weather on a previous occasion

The grackle flew to various high perches around us before it finally transferred to a telegraph pole across the road where it preened its bedraggled feathers and resisted our attempts to lure it to the ground with some of Adam's flapjack bar.

Triumphant! The Hand of God is pointing to the grackle
L-R Yours truly, Peter and Adam aka Gnome

We gave it ten minutes but the grackle did not budge so we did and headed for home.

Postscript

Mark, another birding colleague who had never seen a Killdeer wanted to go and see it so I went with him the next day and he got his lifer. Otherwise nothing much had changed although we did see an adult Little Gull.

.