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. This country provides the northernmost regular wintering areas and is particularly important for Scandinavian birds. But when out marshes and fields are frozen the lapwings move westward into Ireland. Here they linger until normal spring passage.