Hope for the Lappinch

So you may be wondering why we picked the lapwing as the focus for our project?

Many reasons – their jaunty good looks; their madly tumbling display flight on oversized wings; their simple yet distinctive “pe-wit” call as a traditional sound of Spring; distant memories of a childhood birdwatching trip with a long-departed grandfather?  

All of these, but perhaps most importantly, because its post-war demise in Cheshire (and elsewhere) captures all that has gone wrong with farming in recent years. 

And yet, with some small-scale changes to farming and land management practices, we really do think it remains realistic to hope that we can get them back – at least to our small corner of the Cheshire lowlands – and not just in winter where they remain a relatively common sight.  

Not just as a standalone conservation goal but, critically, to try and show that breeding lapwings can co-existing with today’s farmers – who must also be able to earn a decent living from providing nutritious and affordable food for us all.   

More fundamentally, if we can get our land right for lapwings to thrive, we suspect a far broader range of traditional English farmland wildlife will benefit along the way.

Naïve? Unrealistic?  Idealistic?  Perhaps time and experience will prove so, but if you don’t try….