Skylarks in and around the Garden
A Bird of constant song, busy and welcome
Skylarks are a great worry, they are on the RSPB Red Status and unless things are changed, especially on farmland, it could be that one day in the future, their constant pretty song will be heard no longer.
I'm happy to say the Farmer / Landlord of the fields around me has joined the Governments Environmental Stewardship Scheme and part of that is leaving a 12 meter buffer around the edge of fields plus 'holes' of unsown seed which together attract much wildlife including the Skylark.
In fact, before he joined the scheme we never saw or heard a Skylark, this year the field is full of them!
Feeding on Insects and seeds, you will mainly see them all year round in lowland fields and upland moorland.
Truth be told, you are more likely to hear them as they spend most of the time in the field crop itself chirping away to hearts content.
For this reason they are quite hard to spot let alone take a photograph!
When flying they tend to go vertically and hover quite a bit and very occasionally take a rest in a bush or on a fence post.
On first sighting they could be taken for a Sparrow or Thrush but on closer inspection you will spot a slight tuft on the head, the head tends to take a slightly streaky look.
Please spread the word about the Environmental Stewardship Scheme, it has already proven to be a really worthwhile enterprise.
