Nesting of the Kentish plover
The plover Charadrius alexandrinus is a small cosmopolitan wader that prefers the shores of the sea and lakes, estuaries, salt marshes and brackish lagoons for reproduction.
The Kentish plover's nest is a simple hole in the sand where the female generally lays three eggs which are incubated for almost a month. Male and female alternate in brooding with long shifts of about 12 hours.
The Kentish plover is currently among the most threatened coastal nesting species: most of the breeding populations in Europe have decreased, sometimes drastically as in Italy, due to the disturbance caused by human activities, predation by invasive species, the loss and of habitat degradation.