LAPWING (Vanellus cristatus) APRIL
This beautiful “Early Bird” not only catches the worm; the Lapwing is also partial to tasty slugs, snails, leather jackets and other injurious insects. Lapwings can hardly be called migratory birds, as some can be seen throughout the year. Those that do move to the near continent or as far as the Iberian Peninsula return to breed. They are restless, watchful and shy and rarely approach houses or trees, preferring wide open spaces. They fly round and round, tumbling and tossing in the air making the countryside resound to their endless ‘pee-wit’ echoes, often to draw predators away from their ground-built nests. Their nests are vulnerable, situated in small and slight depressions in the earth, often using mole-hills as a ‘cradle’. They rear a single brood of up to four chicks a year, but may lay up to four replacement clutches if their eggs are lost. Less than 40 per cent of Lapwing chicks survive to fledging. A change in farming methods and reduction in wetlands and uncultivated grassland has led to a serious decline in Lapwing numbers, but in areas such as Norfolk, they continue to thrive in managed nature reserves.Thank goodness!