With such a prolonged cold winter, everything is very late this year by several weeks. So, I was surprised to see that this hadn't affected the Lapwings on The Outer Hebrides. Most of them had bred and had numbers of chicks running around. It's amazing how independent these chicks are as they wander well away from their parents, who do a great job of guarding them. Any potential predator is quickly spotted and relentlessly chased away. The iridescent colours on the adults are stunning at this time of year.
