Things you need to know about LAPWINGS!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you for watching this video and taking a look at the comments! If you would like to support me to make even more videos, please consider my Patreon which can be found here> www.patreon.com/ashotofwildlife Cheers.

[@alanjust]

Very interesting Liam, thanks for a great video. Here in Provence we see flocks of them flying over heading even further south towards the wetlands of the Carmargue. Incredible sight.

[@weatheroakwanderer5941]

Yet another great vid.......keep up the good work !

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you

[@tamjammy4461]

Ta for this. Seeing my first lapwing ,when travelling in the South of France was what really startedy love of birds. We were lucky enough to get a very close look at them ( we didn't own any bins at the time) , and something aboout their shimering iridescent plumage and weird (as i them thought) crests, just changed my life forever. I was so lucky, and owe them so much.

[@RHR-221b]

Much appreciation as always, Liam. *Fly On, Little Lapwings!* All the best. Stay free. Rab 👋 🕊

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers Rab, hope all is good with you!

[@eamonmcdermott4032]

I've heard them called Peewits. Thanks very much, Liam. Compact, informative video.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you Eamon!

[@yelesomeus4534]

I found a whole heap of baby lapwings once at the side of a road, the Mum was calling but they couldn’t get up the curb so I help each one individually up the curb….I hope they survived

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Good job, well done on trying to help them!

[@railway-share3820]

Nice series on wildlife. My book on bird migration though, says that only a third of lapwings are resident, a third are summer visitors ands a third are winter visitors.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you. I may have oversimplified their migrations in this video (its difficult to talk about migrations when I dont have the skills to animate what I am trying to say.)The vast majority of lapwings that breed in the UK, do remain here throughout the winter MOST years. But, if the autumn is particularly cold, varying numbers of breeding birds will move south into Spain and even northern Africa. Interestingly, in these years, we often have more overwintering birds here because those from northern europe have done the same thing and came to the UK.

[@jonathansmythe6273]

what a beautiful bird. thanks.

[@TheHoveHeretic]

On the many occasions I become so engrossed that I forget to hit the 'Like' button, the worst that ever happens is Liam's view count goes up by one, as I return to correct my oversight! These fantastic clips are always a ray of sunshine on any day .... even when it's obvious he's getting thoroughly drenched making them!! Thanks Liam. 👍

[@dezscott46]

Thanks Liam short and sweet and straight to the point Great bird with lovely colours.

[@markoarkaina8656]

Those chicks are adorable!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

I agree!

[@anthonyalfredyorke1621]

Thanks Liam, what a stunning Bird, nature never ceases to amaze me, who needs A.I when we have all this wonderful nature & wonderful people, another great show. What a great way to start the weekend. PEACE AND LOVE TO EVERYONE ❤❤.

[@nicnak4475]

Bless them, soooooo sweet ! Thanks Liam.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you!

[@paulwarner5674]

Wow just wow. What an amazing video. That was so beautiful. So much info I watched it 3 times but will be watching later too.❤❤❤

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you Paul. I'm glad you enjoyed it and will watch again :)

[@QigongGreyDragon]

Such a beautiful bird 🐦 one of my favourites to listen to.

[@ChristopherHarle41048]

Great info. Most enjoyable. A part of my childhood, but now I get to see them close-up (thanks to you!).

[@LudwigHohlwein1776]

For such dainty looking birds, they are majestic in flight, especially in a large numbers. Always a favourite to see and hear. Cheers, Liam

[@TheWobblyFace]

Thanks Liam, nice video. I watch a female lapwing raise two chicks this summer. I was surprised how far she kept from them yet they responded to her alarm calls and watch her chase of magpies, jackdaws, crows and on one occasions she flew quite a distance to see of a buzzard.

[@mattgoodchild8215]

Fantastic video Such a beautiful bird I’ve always loved them with their swooping flight and amazing call but sadly as with most of our special birds have seen a massive decline since the early 70s through habitat destruction and industrial farming etc Just so sad 😢

[@guymansfield-smith1135]

Thank you so much Liam. Beautiful creatures. I’m biased, as when I was a child I would listen to them through my wide open bedroom window. I found their calls quite comforting.

[@Compo67]

Gotta be the coolest bird ever! Always remember there being loads of them Breeding in the fields when I was a kid. Everything is cool about them, their song, their looks and their courtships.❤

[@TyroneBootlace]

I'm over 70 yo and I have always believed they are called Lapwings because they feign injury to their wing as to decoy the predator away from the nest . 😀

[@AShotOfWildlife]

I have seen footage of them doing a fake injury so I see why you would have thought that.

[@TyroneBootlace]

Cheers @@AShotOfWildlife

[@hamiltonchris9077]

I used to see them in Wheathampstead , Hertfordshire , across the River Lea where we lived in the 70s , where there was an apple orchard .

[@fredarich8068]

Thank you for this. I grew up on a farm in Hertfordshire in the 60’s. After the first ploughing of the year, huge flocks of lapwings would descend onto the field for the insects that’d been turned up. I t’s one of my most treasured childhood memories.

[@andybelcher1767]

As others have mentioned, I grew up seeing huge flocks on the fields in winter. I am in North East Suffolk. I haven't seen one in years. Such a shame, but at least they are still around.

[@Alan.92n]

Thanks Liam for video on one of my favourite birds, the lapwing. Always wondered, how they got their name! Great facts on them as well. Nice one Liam. 👍

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thanks Alan, I am glad you enjoyed the video and learnt something new. Cheers

[@stuartwoodburn2653]

Lapwings bring back fond memories of have sandwiches in a field at school in the 1970s. I was always impressed with how brave they are swooping on anything when nesting. Thanks you so much❤

[@jasonwilson3928]

One of my favourite birds and i love ther call when i was a kid once found ten nests in one field

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Wow, I have seen them nesting at a couple of nature reserves near me, but even then there weren't 10 nests within a field.

[@bernardshieldstysonfive1009]

Hi Liam brilliant video again I didn’t know a bird could have so many names I see a lot of them in the field at the bottom of my garden keep up with your brilliant videos and work Bernard

[@someblokecalleddave1]

Blimey - how big's your garden?

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers Bernard! How great that you get to see them at the bottom of your garden, very lucky!

[@missapippin9020]

Thank you Liam for another very informative video. Beautiful birds thank you very much ❤❤

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you. Appreciate you watching and taking the time to comment as always.

[@moiragoldsmith7052]

July 2024, watched a flock of Lapwings on the NE Coastline, St Mary's Lighthouse ( UK) this week. Thanks for the information.

[@Jaded-Wanderer]

Another super video

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you for watching!

[@asseyez-vous6492]

Haven’t seen Vanellus vanellus for years now. Good news though, they’re pretty numerous in France.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thats a shame, its a good time of year to see them at wetlands. I notice you have one as your profile picture so must be a big fan!

[@asseyez-vous6492]

@@AShotOfWildlife absolutely 😊

[@mikelangelno]

My favourite bird so I wrote this poem: Lapwing-love Lovely lapwing, flickering Over corduroy fields Shutter-curtain wings Exposing emulsions Of white and bottle-green Barnstorming-bird Favourite flyer Aerial acrobat Making two wings Seem like the four Of a bi-plane ace Your pre-nuptial Joie-de-vivre Seducers watchers And mate alike Fixing unforgettable images In memory’s album

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thats really good, well done!

[@ernielockett3440]

When I was growing up in the 1960s, flocks of Lapwings were a common sight in the fields around the Yorkshire mining village where I lived. Most of the fields have now been built upon and Lapwing sightings are few and far between.

[@janetturner7489]

Love lapwings, use to see them north of Hamburg when I lived out there.

[@cyberlizardcouk]

Peewits up here in Chesterfield.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers, I think thats their most common nickname in the UK.

[@roberttaylor5995]

One of my favourite bird species. Brilliant video. The largest flock I ever saw was on Dartmoor, 20 years ago. It must have contained more than 300 birds.

[@talontales]

Another fantastic addition.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you!

[@gerrimilner9448]

they are beautifull birds, they make circular flights over the new forrest, where they nest, close to many esturies

[@1TimBaugh]

Lovely video, as ever. Many thanks. Worth mentioning also, perhaps, that their flight can be extremely acrobatic? Love watching them fly in wind.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Ah yes, I should have mentioned their display flights. Thanks for watching!

[@garylivesey7571]

lovely video Liam thank you.🕊

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thanks Gary!

[@peterjhillier7659]

Thank you, I remember when I joined the Scouts in 1957 I was in the Peewit Pack, what a lovely Bird, so sad what's happening to our Wild Life.

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

I remember when I was young there were plenty of lapwings in the fields surrounding my village, but now there are none. I suspect it's because farmers are mowing the fields for silage early in the year, destroying nests, where they just used to let the grass grow for hay and only mowed once in late summer, after the breeding season. If I see them now it tends to be in places where the grassland is undisturbed or less intensively farmed.

[@robertfletcher3421]

I do like these videos very much.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Great, I am glad you are enjoying them!

[@rikkiharcourt3868]

In the 1970’s they could be seen in plenty in the field in north Hertfordshire. They disappeared quite suddenly and never returned, just like our sparrows.

[@daleferrier3050]

We have lapwings near me on the moors. They always stand out with their loud calls.

[@philiptaylor7902]

Hi Liam, great video. It was the lapwing that got me into birding when I was a boy. Shame you didn’t have any footage of their display flights, they are really spectacular in spring.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Yes, I did try to get some footage of that but none was available on the licence that I use (when I use footage I havent filmed). Im glad you enjoyed the video and hopefully one day soon I will be able to film the display flight myself.

[@amyesworldcatherinesminime7945]

I'll join the others in the comments to say how they remind me of my childhood. I saw them in the fields when my mum drove us to Southport.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thanks. Despite appearances, I haven't been around that long so I dont remember them being much more common unfortunately.

[@JustHackingAround]

Thank you great video!

[@harmjava]

Called kievit (key-vit) in Dutch. Lapwings were plentiful when I was a kid, but intensive agriculture, especially mowing, has decreased their numbers. Beautiful birds.

[@ronhall9394]

Luckily there are still a few Peewits in my neck of the woods, there's quite a lot of dairy farming so there's lots of fields that don't get ploughed so nests are safe. A few Curlews also, amazingly I officially live within the city of Newcastle upon Tyne - just on the fringes though.

[@simonpitt4632]

they are also called by their sound in south america, tero (spanish) - quero (portugueese)

[@andyhutch8262]

Local in North Yorkshire, they are called Teeafits or peewitss

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thanks. I've never heard the teafits nickname before.

[@sidensvans67]

Northumberland in 50 s 60 s We called them Wee Pees . Lovely birds .

[@damedavidfrith55]

Thanks for that,hope it never gets wiped out

[@energylab227]

We’ve always called them Pee-WEETS. Great video!

[@user-xn2hf9re8r]

thanks - I love lapwings

[@grahamlaverack1078]

I was brought up in a mining village near Barnsley and in the 60s there were two large breeding colonies within 2 miles of my home. Literally hundreds of birds in each. Now they are gone. Changes in farming methods one of the main reasons as nests were ploughed in because crops are now planted at different times of year to increase yield.

[@fishypie]

in the late 70s where i live there were 100s of lapwings on farm land just down the road, then they built a golf course. lapwings no more

[@RHR-221b]

👎 👋 🕊

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thats such a shame. I would have thought they could manage parts of a golf course to favour birds such as lapwings, surely having finely mown lawns outside of the playing area is pointless.

[@jillatherton4660]

😄👍

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thanks Jill!

[@alejandrayalanbowman367]

What about hoopoes?

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Well, it turns out that I was a month behind on this videos information. It was publicised late September that hoopoes nested in Leicester. However, I still wouldn't call them a resident bird.

[@Ryan_Gosling_3]

Bro these are in norway

[@paulannable3734]

Lovely film. It’s always been Pewitts for me. I love to see these birds on the moors with their tumbling flight. I’ve never seen them in such dense flocks though.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you! I suspect when you have seen them over the moors has been when they are more separated for breeding. Typically, I have seen the opposite, when they are congregated for the autumn and winter around Norfolks wetlands.

[@paulannable3734]

@@AShotOfWildlife I think you’re right… I’ve always considered them a moorland bird. Your film was very educational.