Lapwing

UK status:
140,000 breeding pairs, 650,000 wintering. There has been an 80% population decline in England and Wales since 1960 (RSPB)

Status at Abbey Farm:
20-30 pairs breed, present during the rest of the year with several hundred in late winter and early spring

Notes from Abbey Farm:

• Lapwing nest here in a range of habitats:
  • A 1.3ha area cultivated annually in late winter for ground-nesting birds surrounded by grassland
  • A 13ha organic field, half spring cereals and half green manure with grassland close by
  • A field of millet that follows sugar beet in our rotation plan (see millet)
  • The wet grasslands
  • Sugar beet, spring cereal and pea fields
• Any nests we find that are under threat from farm operations are marked and protected
• Control of corvids and ground predators probably helps breeding success
• Several pairs walk their young chicks to the wet grasslands for rearing, and fledglings and adults flock here at the end of the breeding season.