Habitat use by Lapwings and Golden Plovers in a largely arable landscape

Numbers and habitat preferences of breeding Lapwings and of wintering Lapwings and Golden Plovers were studied over three years in a largely arable district of northeast Essex. There were 49-54 pairs of breeding Lapwings over the period 1994-96, using 6-9 sites, with 69-83% of the total in coastal grazing marshes. The majority of the remainder was in coastal spring tillage, breeding birds being virtually absent from the hinterland. Large numbers of Lapwings and Golden Plovers were recorded in the first winter of study but many fewer in subsequent winters. Larger fields were used preferentially by both species and boundary quality appeared unimportant. Birds fed opportunistically on bare ground left from early harvested crops in late summer. Lapwings were found mostly on plough and stubble in early autumn, on cereals through the winter, with grass becoming important in late winter. Cereals held most Golden Plovers, and they showed a greater preference for cereals than did Lapwings. There was a large overlap in habitat use between the two species. There teas no clear seasonal pattern in feeding. Lapwings avoided cereal fields where the blade height was greater than 110 mm, whereas the critical height for Golden Plovers was 9 mm. The vapid growth of autumn-sown cereals in 1994 and 1995 was considered to be the reason for the reduced population of bath species using the region. It is considered that, if warm dry autumns become the norm, allowing rapid growth of winter cereals, the implications for the long-term conservation of Lapwings and Golden Plovers in southern England could be severe.