The lapwing is a charismatic farmland wader whose UK population has declined by over 60% since the 1970s. Its welfare on agricultural land is shaped by changes in farming practice that have eliminated suitable nesting habitat.
Lapwing welfare is directly harmed by agricultural intensification. Spring-nesting lapwings need short grass or bare ground with adjacent damp areas rich in earthworms and invertebrates. Modern arable farming provides neither. Nests on arable land are destroyed by cultivation, and improved grassland is too tall and dense to allow nest site selection. Targeted agri-environment interventions - including rush pasture creation, wet grassland management, and winter flooding - improve habitat quality and nesting success measurably. Individual birds that fail to raise chicks face energetic costs of repeated nesting attempts.