dose anyone remember the first birds they saw

I remember the 1st few years back when I 1st started at age 11 there were loads of lapwings on farmland meadow fields were i lived and they used to nest too, dive bombing me when i walked one the edge of their territory
I remember someone saying that if you get up early around sep -jan period you could see migrant golden plover along with the lapwings that used to come back at this time after the breeding season I still remember seeing them on a school playing field for the 1st time ,I wasn't sure what they were having just started birdwatching ,at first I thought they were knots but then i questioned myself why were they here on a playin field near a school then I heard it from someone that they were golden plover and the best time to see them was just before dawn so me and mi mam got up went out to the fields god it was cold and dark then I heard this strange sound that seemed to be circling me (a snipe druming sound in the breeding season) I later found out that that was a snipe. that was back in 1988 and alot has changed since then. there used to be skylarks too don't here them now. i used to live in highfield farnworth up near the bird estate were back then there were the meadow fields there still there but with houses built on them there was even a pond,houses were built on that too,thats what caused the downfall of the sky larks