Northern Lapwing
Vanellus vanellus
Also known as: Lapwing, Green Plover, Peewit, Fredeluga
Habitat
Ground
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
218 g
About This Species
Search wet grassland, pasture, and arable field margins, where small flocks feed on invertebrates by running a few steps and pausing to peck at the ground. The species is unmistakable in flight, with broad rounded wings that produce a distinctive floppy wingbeat, a wispy head crest, and a wheezing 'pee-wit' call that gives it its name. Late winter through early spring is the best time to see the tumbling, acrobatic display flights that males perform over breeding territories, while post-breeding flocks gather on open fields in autumn and winter.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- This species is Near Threatened, so extra care matters: stay on paths, view from a distance with binoculars or a scope, and avoid entering fields where birds are displaying or where chicks may be present, since flushed adults leave eggs and young exposed to predators and weather.
- Legal protection for nests and breeding birds varies across its wide Eurasian range, with strong safeguards in the UK and EU during the breeding season, so treat any nesting area as off-limits rather than assuming the same rule applies everywhere.
- If you see agitated adults circling and calling persistently, you are likely too close to a nest and should move away.
Seasonal Activity
3,926,016 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Charadriidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 218 g
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.