Feathered Fridays - Lapwing

Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons

Vanellus vanellus

Most European birds have their own distinctive calls and songs, from the low booming of the Bittern to the rolling musical notes of the Snow Bunting, but few can be said to be as bizarre as the vibrantly alien ululation of the Lapwing or peewit. As these birds gather in flocks in fields, you could almost be mistaken for thinking you’d stumbled upon a treasure hunters’ convention with their metal detector-like display calls. And that is not the only distinctive thing about this medium-sized farmland bird. Part of the Plover family Charadriidae, while most sport earthy or monotone plumage, the Lapwing wears a metallic green and purple iridescence to its back, the rest of its feathers being black and white, ending with an iconic wispy black crest on its head  and noticeably rounded wingtips.

In addition to farmland fields, the Lapwing frequents meadows, mudflats, and wetlands throughout the UK, wintering only in the West Country and south Ireland, and breeding in upland fields and river pastures between April and June (several migrate south to breeding grounds on the continent). They are often seen mixed in with Golden Plovers and Black-headed Gulls. Their young, raised in a shallow grass-lined hollow from a single brood of 3-4 chicks, quickly assume their adult plumage, albeit with a smaller head crest and buff edges to those vibrant feathers. Their diet consists largely of insects, from both above and below ground; those taken from just below the surface as often tempted out with foot tapping.                                       

The name Lapwing is believed to derive from the Old English for ‘leap with a flicker in it’, referring to the way their black and wings flicker in a winter flock. The Latin Vannellus vannellus means ‘little fan’, also in reference to their flapping flight. However they are, sadly, in decline due to changing farming systems and now appear on the Red conservation status list for the UK. But that’s not to say we shouldn’t celebrate this unique bird for having the tenacity to hang in there and still clock up 140,000 breeding pairs in the UK annually.

Facts taken from: the RSPB, Wildlife Trusts, the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, and the RSPB’s ‘Birds of Britain and Europe’ Guidebook by Rob Hume.

https://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-in-norfolk/species-explorer/birds/lapwing

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/birds/wading-birds/lapwing

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/lapwing/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0241302242/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1