Skylark

A large Lark, most familiar for its clear warbling song performed high in the air on spring mornings. Adults show a long streaked crest which can be raised or flattened on the head.

Heavy streaking on the buffish breast. Underpass creamy. Flight is undulated with noticeable white edges at the rear of the wings and sides of tail. Bill is pale, thick and pointed. Legs pinkish with a long hind claw.

Song consists of continuous loud warbling and is delivered from high in the air with the bird hovering in a stationary position or in fluttery display flights. When flushed, gives a rippling chirrup call.

Adults feed on a range of insect, seed, worm and larvae. Seeds and shoots such as nettles, dock and knotgrass are taken as well as invertebrates such as beetles, spiders and grasshoppers. Chicks are fed almost entirely on insects.

Breeding is from mid-April to mid-July on the ground, primarily in grass but also crops. On average four eggs are laid, white with brownish-black speckles and incubated for eleven days. The young stay in the nest for ten days after hatching.

Skylarks because of their exuberant song were popular cage birds in Victorian times. To avoid injury, birds were kept in canvas topped cages, in case they forgot themselves and tried to fly skywards.

Birds were also eaten as a delicacy. Both these practises are outlawed and such wonderful birds are free and unmolested by fanciers or gourmets.

Skylarks sing most freely in spring when they establish their territories, by thrusting ever upwards in slow hovering vertical progression, all the time straining to achieve vocal superiority over their rivals. The song continues for over five minutes, then the skylark plummets quickly to ground, landing some distance from the nest and runs in cover to nest site.