Lapwings – forty years ago in my nature notebooks

As a child I remember seeing upwards of 500 Lapwings in a field on many occasions. I remember the ‘pee-wit’ sound they made and the incredible view of their wings when the flock decided to take to the skies. Their numbers have more than halved since 1983 because of the change in farming from autumn-sown crops to spring-sown crops. They’re a ‘red list’ species which means they need significant action to save them. In 1977 I made this drawing of a Lapwing and forty years later in 2016 I took this photograph:

They are beautiful birds, with their crest and oil-on-water colours of their feathers.

In Orkney they are called Teeicks.

This one found a worm:

Lapwing - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

We were both happy.

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