55- Slow Down. Watch out for me!

A tiny speckled Lapwing chick was brought to me by an elderly couple who found it alone in a hot car park. It was summer, late in the season for lapwings to be breeding. Its parents may have had to fly off to find food elsewhere as lawns dried up and worms were too hard to find in the area they had their nest. 

The chick was too weak to feed itself so I hydrated it and popped worms into its beak for a few days until it was strong enough to feed itself. I kept it under a heat lamp where it could snuggle under a feather duster. Lapwing chicks catch their own worms and insects from the day they hatch and follow their very protective parents in open grassy areas during winter and spring. 

I usually raise several orphaned chicks together keeping them as wild as possible but this year he was the only one. I was his only companion and he followed me in the garden to find insects. I also bought mealworms and crickets from the pet shop to fill him up. 

Lapwing chicks grow quickly and need to run about in sunlight to grow strong bones. He could run outside on the lawn with me watching him for a short time each day as there is always the danger from being hunted by hawks or forest ravens attracted by his constant peeping call. Finally his wing feathers fully developed and it was fun to watch him run and flap and glide a little. When he could fly over the house I left him to forage by himself. 

There were a few local lapwings living in our valley but they saw him as an intruder and I could hear their alarm calls if my chick went too close to them. At night he settled on the car port roof where he could see me through the kitchen window. I always felt honoured to be a surrogate mother plover. 

This photo was taken in the garden just after he had killed and eaten a bumblebee. He was inquisitive about the camera I was holding. Beautiful bird. 

Photographs and back story by wildlife carer Robyn Gates