Gerard van den Heuvel found the very first lapwing egg in Brabant on Tuesday in Venhorst. He searched his own land a number of times, but this time it was hit.
“When I drove past earlier, I already saw a lapwing in the meadow. Today I went to look again with high hopes. He was quite well hidden between the grass, but after a little search I saw him happily,” says the finder. Gerard is a farmer and volunteer at Weidevogelgroep Boekhorst. He has been involved in bird and egg conservation for years.
Two years ago he also found lapwing eggs. Then there were even four. “Now it’s only one, but it really is a beautiful specimen,” he says. The farmer thinks the egg is definitely hatched.
It is not surprising that the egg is found around this time. “The lapwing birds are very sensitive to the weather,” says Fien Oost of Brabants Landschap. She says that the first lapwing egg in Brabant was found on 11 March last year, for example.
The first lapwing egg in the Netherlands was found earlier: on March 9 in Overijssel. According to Oost, it is important to protect meadow birds in the Netherlands, also in Brabant. According to her, things are getting worse with this bird species. This is partly due to activities on arable land such as plowing or sowing in the spring.