A stocky, thick-billed, large-eyed wader, it usually looks rather dark out on an estuary, but close views reveal spangling. It has unique black “armpits” in flight.

A larger, more northerly counterpart of the Golden plover, the Grey plover is a bird of High Arctic tundra in the brief northern summer, and of estuaries for the rest of the year. It is a coastal wader in winter, not usually found inland or on farmland habitats used by Golden plovers and Lapwings.