Wiltshire Wader Group​

Of the four species we focus on Lapwing has by far the most widespread distribution within Wiltshire. The map in the top right shows Lapwing to be found breeding in almost half of all areas surveyed. However even this represents a decline. Although the breeding range may still be large the numbers of birds and breeding density has decreased dramatically. In the late 1800's hundred of pairs were seen to be breeding at just one location at Salisbury Plain; sadly those days are long gone. 

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Ringing recoveries, as shown by the map on the right, reveal that birds which hatched and breeds in Wiltshire disperse south in winter (green lines). With several recoveries of birds ringed as nestling in Wiltshire from Spain in subsequent winters and a single bird recovered in Belgium. One record which stands out here is the bird recovered from Norway, ringed as a nestling and then found the following spring in Wiltshire. 

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The initial decline in Lapwing numbers in the 1940's was due to and wide scale change in farming practices. Today this continues to be a problem but an increase in uptake of agri-environment schemes is helping to mitigate this. Locally in Wiltshire a changing climate is making it harder for Lapwings to thrive and may in time make southern counties in the U.K uninhabitable for them.