LAPWING

The photograph on this page is © Gareth Thomas FRPS and the drawing is by Lizzy Hibbert © Upper Onny Wildlife Group

Lapwings were once the quintessential bird of British farmland, but no longer.

Lapwings are about the same size as Feral Pigeons.  The upper parts are an iridescent dark green colour, but this looks black from a distance.  Coupled with the black breast band, forehead and tail band, and the white underparts and face, Lapwings have a distinctly pied appearance, particularly in flight.  Breeding adults have a tall wispy crest.  Their characteristic, far carrying call, emitted during the display flight and when the birds are disturbed, gives rise to their common vernacular name, “Peewit”.  

In winter, the British population moves south, particularly in hard weather, while many Lapwings from northern and eastern Europe come here.  However, the migrants depart, and the British birds return to their breeding grounds during March, and first clutches will be laid in late March or early April.  Repeat clutches will be laid if the first clutch is lost.  The incubation period is about 4 weeks.  Chicks leave the nest almost as soon as they hatch, and feed themselves.  Fledging takes another 5-6 weeks, and, although the chicks are extremely well camouflaged and freeze when approached, mortality is high.

The population has been declining since the 1960s, but more quickly in recent years. National surveys organised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the British Trust For Ornithology (BTO) found a 49% decline in the breeding population between 1987 and 1998. Nationally, Lapwing is included on the Amber List of Birds of Conservation Concern 2002-2007.

In Shropshire , the national surveys referred to above sampled 4% of the County area (35 Tetrads).  The results suggest that the County population is now only a quarter (25%) of what it was 15 years ago.

Table .  Estimated density (pairs / tetrad) and population size of Lapwing in Shropshire in 1987, 1998 and 2003 with bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals.             Note the large margin of error due to the small sample size.

(Thanks to Dr Stuart Newson , Population Biologist (Census Unit), British Trust for Ornithology, for the Statistical analysis).

As a result of this local decline, Lapwing is a target species in the Shropshire Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). 

In 2004, the Upper Onny Wildlife Group found only 19 pairs in an area of 122 square kilometres between the Long Mynd and the Welsh border.  Detailed surveys found that many pairs did not manage to produce any chicks, and the breeding productivity is not sufficient to sustain even the current low population. 

Comparison of the distribution with that published in An Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Shropshire also showed a considerable reduction in range.  Some farmers in the area, when told of the current population level, said they could remember having more pairs than that in a single field.

Lapwings need bare earth or very short vegetation for their nest, and somewhere close by where chicks can find enough food – insects and worms, mainly from wet ground.

The population decline has been caused by:

1. The switch from Spring to Autumn/Winter Cereals, reducing the availability of short vegetation on arable land in April (Autumn/Winter Cereals have already grown too high to provide nest sites).

2. Drainage of farmland, and reduction in the level of the water table through increased extraction for agricultural and other human activities, which reduces the availability of damp feeding areas for chicks.

3. A reduction in mixed farming, so chicks have to move a considerable distance from the nest site to the nearest suitable feeding area.  This takes up a lot of energy, and exposes the chicks to predation, and many drown trying to cross steep-sided drainage ditches. Chick survival rate has therefore declined.

4. Increased intensification in modern agriculture 

i.   Spring arable crops grow more uniformly, and more quickly, than they used to, so there are  fewer suitable nest sites later on in the breeding season, limiting the opportunity for pairs which lose early clutches to re-lay

ii.  Farm machinery is much bigger, so farmers who traditionally drove around or moved Lapwing nests are less likely to see them now

iii. Farms are bigger, and more likely to employ casual or contract labour, who are perhaps less sympathetic to local wildlife

iv. Stocking levels on pasture have increased substantially, increasing the risk of trampling nests and chicks.

5.  An increase in the numbers of many different predators, which is another side effect of agricultural  intensification. In particular, the ever-increasing distance between suitable nest sites and damp chick feeding areas creates a major dilemma for the breeding pairs - do they keep the chicks close to the natal area, running the risk of starvation, or do they try and move them long distances, running the risk of exhaustion, predation or drowning? 

In short, there are many fewer places where Lapwings can nest, and destruction or predation of nests and chicks, or starvation, means that insufficient young birds fledge to replace the older ones that die off.

However, help may be on the way.  The current agriculture subsidy scheme, which created the modern farming conditions which Lapwing find intolerable, is being phased out.  The new system, announced by the Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on 3 March 2005 , includes an Environmental Stewardship Scheme which has options to pay farmers to manage their land to reverse the decline of many farmland birds, including Lapwing.

The Management Plan for the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, launched in 2004, also aims to restore landscape conditions which will benefit Lapwing.  

DEFRA, the AONB Office, the National Trust, English Nature, and a whole range of other conservation organisations are working together to encourage landowners to take advantage of the new subsidy scheme, and farm for the benefit Lapwings, not to create more grain mountains.

The Shropshire Ornithological Society is trying to locate all Lapwing breeding sites, to provide advice to Defra and farmers on the sites that should benefit from the new subsidy scheme.  If you see Lapwing anywhere, during the breeding season (mid – March to mid July), please submit a record to the County Recorder by e-mail or ring Leo Smith on 01588 638577. For more information on the submission of bird records click here.

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