Lapwing courtship and rivalry

You know that spring has really sprung when you witness this kind of bird behaviour.

There were three lapwings in this oilseed rape field - a female (left) and two males. The male in the right foreground had just finished a brief courtship flight display, then pursued the female through the plants on foot, until they both stopped. Then he turned and started pecking at the ground, in a perfunctory display of making a nest scrape, and displayed his rump. The second male, in the background here, had similar ideas. A recipe for trouble.

They both got airborne, to settle their rivalry with some aerial jousting. 

What followed was a lively display of close-quarters intimidation and some spectacular aerobatics, with a lot of noisy calls but no actual physical contact.

No idea how they judged who was the victor and who was the vanquished but .....

.... only one of them had the privilege of mating.

Wolf Spiders

This is a male wolf spider - a Pardosa species, I think, though I'm not certain which one but it could well be P. amentata. It's spring, he's looking for a mate and success depends on being very cautious and on using those two palps - the black, hairy, club-shaped arms on either side of his jaws - with consummate skill. If he gets it right he'll become a father, if he gets it wrong he might well become a meal because....

... this is the object of his affections. The female is over twice his size and very aggressive. Wolf spiders chase down and leap on their prey instead of snaring it in a web and have (for a spider) good eyesight. She's watching his every move, so ......

.... he creeps very cautiously over the edge of her leaf and tentatively waves his left palp. Every now and then he'll vibrate it and the tremors will travel through the leaf and be picked up by her feet.

He creeps a little closer and waves his left palp again, like a sailor waving a semaphore flag .....

... then closer still and waves the right one. It's a courtship that goes on for a long time, and if it's successful the outcome looks like this....