This etching is another named from Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Parliament of Fowles” where he described the Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) as; “The false lapwynge, full of trecherye”. A little later in the fifteenth century, they were described as “foul and villainous” by William Caxton and, the collective noun for Lapwings is a “deceit”! All in all, not a great reputation! This seems to stem from the Lapwings habit of pretending to be injured by dragging a wing on the ground to lure predators away from its nest, a behaviour I get to witness every spring time in the fields around me. The local farmer leaves “lapwing plots” in the spring drillings of cereals, clear of wheat and barley for the Lapwings to nest on. With a little patience and a passing Marsh Harrier or Buzzard, the nesting birds are soon running away from the nest dragging a wing.

Line etching and Aquatint. 15.75” x 12”

Unframed only for postage