"I find lapwings the most enthralling of birds. To start with, they look incredible. They have a language which, to the initiated, is understandable. They are masters of the air with their exuberant flight. Their Latin name is Vanellus Vanellus which comes from the word Vannus - a fan, and indeed that is one of the sounds they make in the air as they perform their amazing aerobatics.

As parents they are exemplary ,guarding the nest site and their young with all their might. The other day, I watched one cock bird taking on a hen peregrine which was hunting over the breeding area. Despite her attempts to catch him in the air, he persisted until she left the area. Both sexes brood eggs and chicks and can be seen on sentry duty as the precocious young wander about searching for food, being insects and earthworms.

They are reasonably trusting of human activity particularly if you are in a vehicle and have other names such as Peewit,or Farmers Friend .

When I was a boy ,the local flock numbered 500 birds. By the 1990s, this had shrunk to about a dozen birds which congregated on my fields from June after failing to rear any chicks. I decided something had to be done. British Trust for Ornithology point towards extinction in Wales by 2016 as the population has crashed fron 15,000 pairs in the sixties to less than 1,000 today.

In 1999, on one of their favoured fields, I ploughed about five acres and kept the cattle off. I was rewarded by three pairs rearing eight young the following spring. The next year I had six pairs with eighteen chicks but then the local foxes realized how good they were to eat leaving me with only three chicks surviving.

The only option was to fence in the twenty three acre field against ground predators which I did-result the following year nine pairs reared twenty seven young.

At about that time, I set up The Cambrian Lapwing Recovery Trust as the task ahead to prevent extinction of this species was bigger than I could afford.

We now have a bird hide and car park, two hundred acres are fenced against ground predators and viable populations of Linnets, Skylarks, Grey Partridge, Barn Owls, Song Thrushes, Water Voles and of course Lapwings, as well as one hundred and thirty other species of birds breeding or visiting the site.

Winter time is equally exciting as the site fills with waterfowl and waders,especially in the evening. There are usually 1,000 wintering Lapwing as well as Golden Plover roosting in front of the hide.

Plans for the future are increasing the area of the site and amenities for the public."

Grid Reference: SN520642 Address: Cambrian Lapwing Recovery Trust, Cefngwyn Hall, Pennant, Llanon, Ceredigion, SY23 5PD. Opening Times: Open dawn to dusk every day from February to Sept 1st when open on Sundays. Admission Charges Admission £5 per family or £2.50 single. Free with Trust membership. Telephone: 01974 272634 Directions We are Between Aberaeron and Aberystwyth, in West Wales, inland from the village of Llanon on the Cross Inn road, about a mile from Cross Inn. Website www.clrt.co.uk The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Written by Charles Grisedale from the Cambrian Lapwing Trust

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