Lapwing update

I wrote a few days ago about how we had marked some Lapwing nests so the farmer could avoid them with his tractor--so here's an update.

Over the last couple of days, the eggs have started to hatch and we have been able to find and ring the chicks. This is where thermal imaging has transformed our success. But surely, chicks on a flat bare field should be easy to find I can hear you ask. So here's the problem. The field is pretty big, the chicks are very small, and when the parents make an alarm call the chicks instinctively lay flat on the ground and hide the white patch at the back of the neck which the adults use to locate them. The result is.......

This one is relatively easy to see as you can see its left foot and you can just about make out the edge of the white behind the head. But this one is altogether more difficult to see....

The cryptic camouflage is brilliant--and really necessary to help them avoid aerial predators in particular. So how has thermal imaging helped. Well prior to us using the, we needed a team of people with binoculars and telescopes trying to triangulate where the chicks had been seen before they lay flat, and using hand signals/mobile messages to guide us to the chicks. It took ages and caused a lot of disturbance. Now we can walk quickly to where we think the chicks are, looking constantly through the imager and hey presto! here is what we see --three chicks laying flat.....

They may not look like baby waders, but the heat profile is such that we can spot them quickly, and locate them with the naked eye after spotting with the imager. In and out of the field in a few minutes.

There is a long way to go before the chicks are safely fledged--but now that there are several pairs nearby it's encouraging to see several adults together attacking the crows. When there is only one adult it's easier for them to be distracted by one crow while another attacks the chicks. Let's keep everything crossed for their success.