Lapwings?

daven

Well-Known Member
We don't have them in this area, but they usually stop by for a few nasty days the beginning of spring on their way to you folks.... Never saw them this year, but just saw a bunch in a field near the house a few minutes ago....... Strange for them to be here now.... anything out of the ordinary that would run them off from you folks, or have they just decided to hang out here also?
 
Used to have hundreds of nesting pairs locally (Wester Ross), think there are now only two or three pairs the last year or two. Sea eagle gets the blame here, anything is fair game except the raven. There has also been a notable increase in badger numbers lately, which won't help the ground nesting birds.
 
i must admit we used to see thousands years ago,but they are still around in good numbers near me,they can be a pain lamping :tiphat:
 
We had plenty back when I was a lad. We called them Peewits. Do I remember correctly that that they feign injury to distract a predator from the nest or am I thinking of another bird? It was a long time ago :D. I can't remember the last time I saw one.

Yorkie.
 
Out dog walking on the flood meadows near my house this evening and put up between 50 to 60, its nice to see them they had 2 curlews with them, also disturbed a mother duck and six youngsters while crossing the river.
What a pleasant way to spend an evening.
 
Becoming scarce here used to be hundreds move inland to nest, still see plenty wintering on the coast but not inland, don't know where these wintering flocks are coming from.

When I was a kid country people used to collect their eggs, some used make money from it as there was a market for them,
and it did not seem to make a difference to the numbers.

Now you would struggle to find enough to make an omelette.
 
Twenty years ago you would see them in their thousands in the winter and golden plover with them. Now to see fifty in a flock is rare and we remark when we see them. We don't hear or see Curlew in the spring around here any more.
 
I see quite a lot of them when out wildfowling in Kent. Maybe five or six seasons ago I used to see a lot more, but I still almost always see them around on the coast. I also travel to Normandy a few times a year to see family and see a lot of them around the Mont St Michel area. Over there, they trap them with nets that they raise at the top of cliffs when they dart over. They lie there for hours on known flightpaths waiting for the lapwings to fly in exactly the right place.
 
We had plenty back when I was a lad. We called them Peewits. Do I remember correctly that that they feign injury to distract a predator from the nest or am I thinking of another bird? It was a long time ago :D. I can't remember the last time I saw one.

Yorkie.


Yes,you're right about them feigning injury Yorkie.
Lovely birds but they certainly look to be on the decline here
 
We used to see flocks of hundreds in the winter and plenty of nests, but they went the way of the grey partridge when moden farming really took hold.
Allow they are making a come back with the help of stewardship and hls, now seeing flocks of 30-40 in the winter and they are nesting on the stone curlew plots, also helped by corvid and fox control, black and whites still take plenty of eggs and chicks.
so maybe they are coming back!
 
Always wondered what they taste like :)

We used to collect the eggs and eat them many years ago on the farm.
Delicious creamy taste from them, they were there in their hundreds.
It was probably illegal even back then but we didn't know any better and it was just nature's bounty.

Shame really as they are beautiful birds.
 
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Again, we had so many more 10 years ago- now we have kites instead lol

I do my best to move them on the cover plots
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We used to have a lot and supposed we still do but we have a lot more buzzards now more than there ever was
 
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