In South-western Drenthe 11.300 ha of farmland and 2546 ha of heathland was counted for Lapwing territories every fourth year form 1970 onwards (Fig I). Fifteen smaller plots in different types of agricultural landscape in the same region were surveyed nearly every year from 1965 onwards. Brook valleys and reclaimed bogs that kept being used in an agricultural way show a positive trend of the Lapwing. When agricultural land changed into nature reserves since 1985, Lapwings almost disappeared (Fig. 3), due to succession of the vegetation. On higher agricultural grounds numbers started to decrease from 1985 on reclaimed heath and from 1995 on the richer soils of old arable-land fields (Fig 4). In Northern Drenthe many counts in different areas were made in the brook valley of the Drentsche Aa from 1965 onwards. Large parts of this area have not been improved for agricultural purpose since than. In 1998 the whole area was surveyed and all former counts have been compared to that year. The pattern of decrease is similar to that in the brook valleys which formerly were intensified and later changed into nature reserves in Southwestern Drenthe (Fig. 5). In 1978-1991 breeding Lapwing were counted in the whole Province of Drenthe. In 2001 and 2002 several areas were surveyed again. In brook valleys and reclaimed bogs with not too intensive agriculture and with a mix of grassland and acres, numbers of Lapwings turned out to be stable or had slightly increased. In brook valleys that mainly consisted of intensively used grassland numbers had been decimated. On the higher grounds numbers had decreased by 40% on reclaimed heath, but were stable or slightly increased on reclaimed moor. Data collected by the monitoring program of SOVON (BMP) in Drenthe from 1970 onwards (Table 1) show an overall trend in farmland quite similar as in SW-Drenthe. The calculated indexes from this material, especially in brook valleys and reclaimed bogs, present a too positive view of the Lapwing population changes in Drenthe (Fig. 1 and 2). Most likely this is biased through over or under representation of some types of farmland and the high turnover of plots. Counters seemingly had started their plots in areas with relative high densities and deserted their plots with declining numbers of Lapwing. A small proportion of the Lapwings occupied a territory on heath. Around 1990 this proportion shows a small increase, due to temporal intensified sods cutting in order to restore the heather vegetation (Fig.6). Figure 6 also shows the turnover from grassland, that became unsuitable by too intensive agricultural or too extensive natural management, to arable land. Based on the distribution of the Lapwing in the different types of landscape in 1978-91, when the whole Province was surveyed, and the trends in those landscapes, we reconstructed the trend for Drenthe in Figure 9. Hatching success and causes for losses in different landscapes are presented in Table 2. There are hardly differences between landscapes in clutch size and hatching success but relatively more clutches hatched on grass than on acres. Through the years there exists a tendency of breeding attempts to fail more often on arable land, due to increased predation (Fig.7). Hatching success however is hardly an indication of final reproduction (Fig. 10). Predation by Red Fox, Carrion Crow etc. form a large percentages of the causes of nest losses. In Figure 8 is shown that hatching of clutches on grass is synchronised, as compared to hatching on arable land. Important detail is that the later part of the breeding attempts (repeat clutches) on acres mainly occurred in reclaimed bog and reclaimed moor. On the drier reclaimed heath repeat clutches were much rarer. To maintain a stable population, Lapwings have to raise 0.8-1.0 young/pair annually (Den Boer 1995). In a small study area on the border of Frisia and Drenthe reproduction of Lapwings amounted 0.29-0.59 young/pair in a brook valley with a stable population, and 0.11-0.20 young/pair in a reclaimed moor, where the number of breeding pairs decreased (Dijkstra 1999). Probably this situation is more or less representative for the whole of Drenthe and we can assume that the Lapwings suffer from a reproduction deficit. It can be concluded that Lapwings cannot survive in nature reserves, as well as in farmland areas that are either too dry or too intensively used. At the moment Lapwings are thriving in some brook valleys, reclaimed bogs and reclaimed moors. The current tendency is that from one hand more farmland in brook valleys and reclaimed bogs are changed into nature reserves, and from the other hand agriculture practises becomes more intensive i.e. that the Lapwing will become a scarcer species.