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What has happened to the lapwings?

Presented by Richard Daniel. Winters used witness huge flocks of lapwings. What has happened to these birds, have they moved or disappeared for good?

Fifty or so years ago, winter fields used to be alive with huge flocks of lapwings filling the air with their distinctive "pee-wit" cry?. But no more, as one listener laments on this week's ±«Óãtv Planet. Where have these birds gone, have they moved to friendlier climes or have their numbers crashed for other reasons? Why, you ask, do different animals live for such different lengths of time? And what can we learn about human longevity from them?

And why do dogs insist on rolling in the myriad of unpleasant things they find in fields, and then come home so proud of their new smell?

On the panel this week are ecologist Dr Lynn Dicks of Cambridge University, naturalist Derek Moore and Professor Philip Stott an environmental scientist from the University of London.

The programme is presented by Richard Daniel.

Producer: Toby Murcott
A Pier production for ±«Óãtv Radio 4.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Tue 3 Jan 2012 15:00

Broadcast

  • Tue 3 Jan 2012 15:00