In the Netherlands breeding numbers of the Little Ringed Plover are on the rise already for a number of decades. The new Sovon 'Vogelatlas' (2019) reports a current breeding population in the range of 100-1500 pairs. A remarkable feature is that a large proportion of the breeding sites are tied to artificial, i.e. man-made 'habitats' which include o.a. building sites, reclaimed land and other barren predominantly sandy and/or pebbly terrains.

In the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen (AWD) along the West coast, such 'habitats' are very scarse. Natural habitats are barren patches of sand, often rich in shell fragments, free of vegetation and near open fresh water. These occur very locally in some spots in the outer dunes close to the coast. In the middle and inner dunes such habitats are absent due to their full surface  vegetation cover.

The below breeding case is one I found in 2019 in a non-natural 'habitat'. On a small dump of dune sand with at its top surface concentrations of shell fragments and some rock (brick) fragments.

On May 9, 2019, I saw a Little Ringed Plover on a small dump of excavated dune sand. I new from earlier visits that at the top of the hill, the surface is rich in shell fragments and small rock (brick) fragments. The result of concentration by wind erosion of the finer sand.

The sighting made me curious whether the plover perhaps might have a nest on that particular surface. I walked up the dump and cautiously inspected the sand & shells surface stepping along the 'hill', which is only some tens of metres long and some ten metres wide. My curiousity was satisfied as I suddenly spotted the beautiful small nest containing a regular full clutch of four eggs. The surrounding edge of the nest marked by numerous small shell fragments and a few rock fragments.
I swiftly made a single Iphone photo (below) and left the hill to allow the plover to return to its nest again.

Only a week earlier on May 1, it already became clear that these dumps of sand and shells are a special 'habitat' that attracts also other bird species. I stood next to a similar adjacent second dump when from the corner of my eye I saw in a flash the silouette of middle-sized dark bird that dived down onto the hill and out of my sight. I assumed it most likely was a falcon and I climbed the dump cautiously with camera gear to check.

To my great surprise, what came in sight was not a falcon but .....a bar-tailed godwit. This is a typical coastal bird which normally isn't seen more inland in the dunes. The 'beach-like'  look of the dump hill top surface apparently attracted the bird for a (fouraging) pauze on its spring migration to the North.

After a short vacation break, I returned with camera gear (700 mm/tripod) to the dump location on May 29th. Speculating that the plovers might have their young by now. Upon arrival I spotted already from the distance one of the adult birds on top of the adjacent 'godwit hill'. On the other dump near the nest location, I didn't see anything initially. Neither an adult nor any young. I stayed posting/watching from behind a mobile site cabin. After a while that paid off when one of the adult birds approached across the hill top and, to my delight, returned to its nest. Only then, standing on my toes did I see through my binoculars the tops of the four eggs again, sticking out above nest nest rim. So no young yet, which proved a great advantage for the photosession that day. For several hours I observed (and photographed) the coming and going of the two adult birds, which took alternating turns on the nest.

In the photo above the parents change gards on the nest. The male (right) takes over the breeding from the female (left). The female starts with an intreaging round of 'householding' around the nest. She picks up shell fragments and with a swift twist of the head, she re-deposits each fragment on her other side. She continued doing that for several minutes while going around the nest up to distances of several metres. Unclear what the meaning is of this surroundings 'householding'. It was fascinating to watch nonetheless.

The male settles carefully on the eggs. With the breast feathers spread and with gentle movements from side to side, he lowers himself to fully feather-cover the eggs.

The female approaches to take her turn on the nest. Stepping onto the nest edge with care to cause minimal disturbance. Supposedly the cover with shell fragments of the inner rim of the nest is there to stabilize the sand edge. Preventing sand from sliding/creeping inwards, which would sand-embed the eggs at the base. That would disturb the essential even transmission of the breeding warmth to the eggs entire volumes.