Part of Motril beach in Granada province closed to protect plover nests

The plover likes Motril beach, and the loyal holidaymaker returns to nest by the Playa de Poniente sports field every summer.

The town hall and the regional environment department have now marked and cut off access to the area, to prevent the eggs from being stepped on and destroyed, which unfortunately happened last May.

The council of the town on the Granada coastline has taken to social media to ask people to be cautious, emphasising that beach users should not enter the marked off area and people must control their dogs until the eggs hatch.

Last year the presence of the protected species on Playa de Poniente led to the suspension of works and beach preparation in some areas, meaning public toilets were not available until well into July.

The eggs could be one of two different species, either the little ringed plover, a species native to Europe and Asia Minor that spends its winter in Africa and is protected by the authorities, but not at risk of extinction, or the Kentish plover.

The Kentish plover, a bird deemed to be 'vulnerable' to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, could be considered to be almost extinct on the coast of Granada, where only a few pairs can be seen on beaches such as Carchuna and Cagadilla in the municipalities of Carchuna-Calahonda and Salobreña.

This species, whose adults measure just seventeen centimetres and chicks five, lives on the shore. The area has been occupied by real estate development, greenhouse farming and most notably, by the presence every summer season of thousands of beach-goers who flock to the beaches of the Costa Tropical. The plover and its chicks are so small that they are easily mistaken for pebbles on the beach.