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The skylark is a ground nesting, small, mostly dun coloured bird with a
feather crest on its head which makes it look as if it needs a good hair cut. A skinny
"punk thrush", if you like.
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It is a bird of open arable land and grassland. The adults are
omnivorous, but the chicks before fledging only
eat insects, the sawfly being an important element of their diet. They also like
short tussocky grass for nesting. |
| Sadly the skylark's future, like that of so much more of our wildlife, is not
looking good. The native skylark population is currently suffering a dramatic decline.
In the last 30 years numbers have declined by a massive 50%, with numbers
of skylarks falling faster than virtually any other species. |
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| During cold winters
Skylarks may venture into gardens for extra food |
The reasons for this dramatic decline are not fully understood. Previously, the
bird was successful in expanding it's range onto newly cleared fields and
grasslands. Today's agricultural practices towards greater intensification of land-use
have been a disaster for the skylark. This has led to a loss of suitable nesting sites
and left not enough time for successful rearing of chicks. The loss has been so
dramatic because 65% of birds use arable land to feed and breed in and most of the
rest favour improved grassland; so all of their habitats are under pressure
from intensification. |
| The skylark has historically been found at lower densities in the uplands,
and there is little documented proof to show whether the population here has
followed the trends seen throughout the rest of Britain. Recent observations of
numbers of singing males in the Sheffield area, made by members of the Sorby
Natural History Society, have revealed as many as 1,300 territorial birds in one area,
east of Sheffield, alone. |
Skylark males may sing for
up to 5 minutes at a time |
| Skylark eggs only take 11
days to hatch, and the chicks are independent after 30 days! |
The RSPB are hoping to come to the rescue, by developing and
implementing a national Species Action Plan, with
the support of other conservation bodies, such as the Wildlife Trusts. They
have identified several factors that are likely to be the major causes of decline, and
have also underlined ways in which the birds' habitat can be protected. This
will hopefully lead to a successful recovery in numbers. |
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The Plan's main suggestions are:
- That the loss of semi-permanent grassland, which has been brought
about by the intensification of production, is a major threat to the skylark. This
includes changing from sowing cereals in Spring to sowing them the previous
Autumn, making less spilt grain and weed seed available for autumn feeding.
- Secondly, there has been a change from traditional hay cutting in late August,
to silage cutting, which involves an early spring cut of lush grass. This
destroys many nests before the eggs have had a chance to hatch, and exposes
those chicks that have already hatched to greater risk of predation.
- Many farmers have also taken to sowing more profitable grass mixes
which include species that grow taller and more densely, making grassland
less hospitable to the skylark.
- Finally, but possibly most importantly, there is the familiar story of
increasing insecticide and herbicide use, which
has been responsible for the destruction of the food supply for both adults and chicks.
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Take a walk through open farmland at any time between January and July, and
you are still quite likely to hear the familiar sound of the males singing to attract
a mate and defend their territory. If your eyes are up to it, you may even be able to
see the bird hanging almost motionless in the sky.
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The positive management of land for the benefit of skylarks is the most
important way in which farmers can help stabilise their numbers, The best way they can
do this is by less intensive use of their land, for instance leaving larger headlands
for the young birds to feed in, more sparing use of herbicides and pesticides,
and more environmentally friendly management of their set-side land _
such as not cutting back the vegetation until after mid August, so allowing birds to
nest and chicks to fledge. |
| All this may lead you to believe that there are hardly any skylarks left, but this is
not the case. They are still a very widespread and relatively common bird, and in
some areas during Winter, large flocks of migratory birds may still be seen,
when the resident population of 2 million breeding pairs is joined by up to 25
million migratory birds that have flown in from the colder parts of Northern Europe,
in the search for food. The biggest concern is not so much the quantity of birds
but the speed of their decline. It is important to protect numbers before they drop
too low. |
In the 19th century
skylarks were netted and eaten by the thousand all over Europe |