Skylark
The Skylark is a passerine bird in the lark family. Like most other larks, the Skylark is a rather dull-looking species, being streaked greyish-brown above and on the breast and buff-white below. It has a short blunt crest on the head which can be raised and lowered. In flight it shows a short tail and short broad wings. The tail and the rear edge of the wings are edged with white which are visible when the bird is flying away. The male has broader wings than the female. This adaptation for more efficient hovering flight may have evolved because of the female's preference for males that sing and hover for longer periods and so demonstrate that they are likely to have good overall fitness.
The Skylark is known for the song of the male which is delivered in hovering flight from heights of 160 to 330 feet when the singing bird may appear as just a dot in the sky from the ground. The long, unbroken song is a clear, bubbling warble delivered high in the air while the bird is rising, circling or hovering. The song generally lasts 2 to 3 minutes but it tends to last longer later in the mating season when songs can last for 20 minutes or more.
The Skylark can be found across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range but eastern populations are more migratory and move further south in winter. Even in the milder west of its range, many birds move to the lowlands and the coast in winter. In the 19th century, the Skylark was introduced to New Zealand, Australia and the Hawaiian Islands.
The Skylark breeds on open farmland, moorland and heathland and starts nesting in late March or early April. The nest is usually built by the female alone and is a shallow depression in the ground lined with grasses. The female lays and incubates a clutch 3 to 5 eggs which hatch after 11 days. The young are cared for by both parents and for the first week are fed almost exclusively on insects. The nestlings fledge after 18 to 20 days but they usually leave the nest after 8 to 10 days. They are independent of their parents after around 25 days. The parents can have up to 4 broods in a season.
The Skylark can be found throughout the UK but numbers have declined over the last 30 years as determined by the Common Bird Census started in the early 1960s by the British Trust for Ornithology. There are now only 10% of the numbers that were present 30 years ago. The RSPB have shown that this large decline is mainly due to changes in farming practices and only partly due to pesticides. In the past cereals were planted in the spring, grown through the summer and harvested in the early autumn. Cereals are now planted in the autumn, grown through the winter and are harvested in the early summer. The winter grown fields are much too dense in summer for the Skylark to be able to walk and run between the cereal stems to find its food.
The Skylark walks over the ground searching for food on the soil surface. Its diet consists of insects and plant material such as seeds and young leaves.
When the word "lark" is used without specification, it usually refers to the Skylark. The collective noun for the Skylark is an "exaltation". The Skylark is the subject of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley, George Meredith, Ted Hughes and numerous others, a play by Henrik Ibsen and pieces of music including The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Date: 9th June 2023
Location: Stackpole Head, Pembrokeshire
The Skylark is known for the song of the male which is delivered in hovering flight from heights of 160 to 330 feet when the singing bird may appear as just a dot in the sky from the ground. The long, unbroken song is a clear, bubbling warble delivered high in the air while the bird is rising, circling or hovering. The song generally lasts 2 to 3 minutes but it tends to last longer later in the mating season when songs can last for 20 minutes or more.
The Skylark can be found across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range but eastern populations are more migratory and move further south in winter. Even in the milder west of its range, many birds move to the lowlands and the coast in winter. In the 19th century, the Skylark was introduced to New Zealand, Australia and the Hawaiian Islands.
The Skylark breeds on open farmland, moorland and heathland and starts nesting in late March or early April. The nest is usually built by the female alone and is a shallow depression in the ground lined with grasses. The female lays and incubates a clutch 3 to 5 eggs which hatch after 11 days. The young are cared for by both parents and for the first week are fed almost exclusively on insects. The nestlings fledge after 18 to 20 days but they usually leave the nest after 8 to 10 days. They are independent of their parents after around 25 days. The parents can have up to 4 broods in a season.
The Skylark can be found throughout the UK but numbers have declined over the last 30 years as determined by the Common Bird Census started in the early 1960s by the British Trust for Ornithology. There are now only 10% of the numbers that were present 30 years ago. The RSPB have shown that this large decline is mainly due to changes in farming practices and only partly due to pesticides. In the past cereals were planted in the spring, grown through the summer and harvested in the early autumn. Cereals are now planted in the autumn, grown through the winter and are harvested in the early summer. The winter grown fields are much too dense in summer for the Skylark to be able to walk and run between the cereal stems to find its food.
The Skylark walks over the ground searching for food on the soil surface. Its diet consists of insects and plant material such as seeds and young leaves.
When the word "lark" is used without specification, it usually refers to the Skylark. The collective noun for the Skylark is an "exaltation". The Skylark is the subject of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley, George Meredith, Ted Hughes and numerous others, a play by Henrik Ibsen and pieces of music including The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Date: 9th June 2023
Location: Stackpole Head, Pembrokeshire
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Also in: Larks
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