Birdwatch: listening to the lapwing's 'peewit' ring out over Somerset Levels

The lapwing's English and scientific names both refer to its distinctive flight: how its wings flash as they pass overheadAt the age of nine, a friend took me to a meadow on the outskirts of my suburban village, and showed me a lapwing's nest. More than 50 years later, I can still visualise the clutch of four buffish-olive eggs, heavily blotched with dark brown, hidden in a tussock on the ground.I can't recall the birds themselves: no doubt they were circling frantically above us, uttering their piercing, high-pitched alarm call. Since then, I've heard this sound, often rendered as "peewit" - one of the lapwing's many folk names - countless times. Continue reading...