When walking in British farmland, one of the most iconic birds to see is the lapwing.
This member of the plover family is medium sized, with beautiful iridescent green and purple colourings.
Unfortunately, this bird has dramatically decreased in number and is now a much rarer sight than it once was.
A change in how we farm the land has been one of the biggest factors in the lapwing’s decline.
More land is now needed for food production. As a result, the ponds that used to be in each field have been removed. These ponds once supplied ample food for the lapwing.
We now also harvest and sow crops at different times and the cover the birds need to nest is removed.
These changes in habitat now heavily restrict the breeding activity of the lapwing, but this fantastic bird can still be spotted at nature reserves, such as Brockholes and Pennington Flash.
Although it’s future is by no means certain, by raising awareness of the Lapwing’s decline, there is hope for its long term survival in our countryside.
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