Your Birding Month
Why Lapwing is our Bird of the Month, plus birds to look for now include Waxwing and Goldcrest
With 650,000 wintering individuals, the Lapwing is one of our most abundant waders. ‘ Individuals’ is a curious word to use, though, as Lapwings are very much flocking birds. Perhaps because of their general familiarity, we tend to overlook the fact these are truly marvellous-looking (and great-sounding) birds. Any bird with a crest is a good bird, of course, but this one is also cloaked in exquisite iridescent greens and purples, and has the most ridiculously broad wings, quite unlike any other wader ever likely to appear in a British field.
Fields and pit margins are the place for these birds, rather than wading out in deeper water. They will stand in water when bathing and resting, though. But feeding is done plover-style, using those big eyes to seek out wormy (or other invertebrate) morsels in the damp mud.
Look for them in the lowlands, wetlands and agricultural fields (often, classically, with Golden Plovers), or shimmering black and white in a distant flying flock. Whatever distance you see them at, though, don’t ignore them, admire them!