Helpston's wildlife

Lapwing or Peewit

'They are as common as crows here in spring.'

'Peewits are easily tamed and are often kept in gardens were they are said to do much good by destroying the slugs and worms on which they feed.'

Quite a lot has changed around Helpston since Clare wrote those words in the early nineteenth century. Lapwings are no longer 'as common as crows', indeed in spring their distinctive swooping courtship display can usually only be heard [click to listen] in the fields around Swaddywell and Castor Hanglands and occasionally around Steeping Wood. In 2008 three pairs have established territorities near Swaddywell, with young appearing in late May.

Lapwing are more common in winter when large flocks gather on the flat fields between Helpston, Maxey and Etton and birds can often be seen flying over the villages. In the late 1990s flocks of several thousand were present in this area. More recently numbers have declined and in 2006 the highest count was just over one thousand birds.

And - to the best of our knowledge - there is no recent evidence of anyone in Helpston taming a peewit and keeping it in their garden to eat slugs and worms!

The pewet hollos chewsit as she flyes

And flops about the shepherd where he lies

But when her nest is found she stops her song

And cocks [her] coppled crown and runs along