Lapwing are the UK's most dramatic wading bird, with a charismatic display and distinctive calls. Their population has halved since the 1980s, with chick survival the critical bottleneck requiring immediate action.
Lapwing welfare at the chick stage is the critical welfare bottleneck for population recovery. Newly hatched lapwing chicks are precocial but cannot fly for 35 days, during which they must find adequate invertebrate food in the immediate vicinity of the nest. In drained, intensive grassland with low invertebrate abundance, chicks that cannot find adequate food die from starvation within days. The welfare of adults during nesting is also significant - the elaborate defensive displays that lapwings use against predators are energetically costly, and failed nesting attempts are repeated, compounding the welfare burden of breeding in predator-rich environments. Habitat management that provides wet, invertebrate-rich conditions significantly improves welfare outcomes for both adults and chicks.