LAPWINGS are leaving the winter flocks and returning to fields and moors. Their backs have turned glossy green (which has given them the alternative name of “green plover”), and the male’s crest has grown longer. The males have started to display above their territories. They climb steeply into the sky, then come tumbling down, twisting and turning to show their silvery-white underparts, and deftly swoop up again just before they hit the ground. As they drop, they make a sharp, far-carrying cry that is an elaboration of their familiar “peewit” call.
Like most displays, this one has the purpose of warning off rivals and attracting a mate. Once the pairs have formed, the male will make a number of scrapes in the earth, and the female will choose one to lay her eggs in. There will be four mottled eggs, arranged in a neat circle with their small ends towards the centre.
Meanwhile, flocks of lapwings that have come here for the winter, some from as far away as Russia, are still haunting ploughed fields and salt marshes. They will not go back until it is warmer in their native countries.
DJM