Lapwing

Scientific name: Vanellus vanellus
Bird family: Plovers
UK conservation status: Red
Protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

Lapwing call audio

Key information

Also known as the peewit in imitation of its display calls, its proper name describes its wavering flight. Its black and white appearance and round-winged shape in flight make it distinctive, even without its splendid crest. This familiar farmland bird has suffered significant declines recently and is now a Red List species.

What they eat:

Worms and insects.

Measurements:

Length:: 28-31cm

Wingspan:: 82-87cm

Weight:: 140-320g

Population:

UK breeding is the number of pairs breeding annually. UK wintering is the number of individuals present from October to March. UK passage is the number of individuals passing through on migration in spring and/or autumn.

UK breeding:: 140,000 pairs

UK wintering:: 650,000 birds

Identifying features:

Lapwing

Feather colour: Black Brown Green Grey Orange White

Leg colour: Brown Pink

Beak: Black Medium length Medium thickness

Natural habitats: Farmland Grassland Marine and intertidal Upland Wetland

Where and when to see them

Lapwings are found on farmland throughout the UK particularly in lowland areas of northern England, the Borders and eastern Scotland. In the breeding season prefer spring sown cereals, root crops, permanent unimproved pasture, meadows and fallow fields. They can also be found on wetlands with short vegetation. In winter they flock on pasture and ploughed fields. The highest known winter concentrations of lapwings are found at the Somerset Levels, Humber and Ribble estuaries, Breydon Water/Berney Marshes, the Wash and Morecambe Bay.

* This map is intended as a guide. It shows general distribution rather than detailed, localised populations.

Resident
Passage
Summer
Winter

You can see lapwings all year round. They leave upland areas after the breeding season and move to lowland fields for the winter. Large numbers of N European birds arrive in autumn for the winter.

RSPB reserves

Video

Footage of a lapwing.

Play video

Minsmere

Coombes Valley

Arne

Lapwing

Lapwing call audio