Battalion upon battalion lifted from the flats before swirling like autumn leaves high into the darkening sky. Ranks closed and the birds swept over the estuary, rising and falling, packed together. Again they climbed, flickering silhouettes against a fiery afterglow and reminiscent of a Peter Scott painting. Finally, all turned, slowly glided and pitched down, poising with uplifted wings momentarily before merging into the dusk. The performance was unforgettable.
Lapwings provide complex migratory patterns.
This involves birds from the Baltic and central Europe. These movements continue through the summer and merge with true migration during September. Earliest travellers are chiefly adults. Perhaps warm dry summers in their regions of origin bake the ground and impede feeding. Passage continues until November, the birds heading for Spain, Portugal and North Africa.