BS: Skylarks

Subject: BS: Skylarks
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 04 Feb 23 - 08:54 AM

There used to be a thread about where to hear skylarks but I can't find it.

I just heard the first skylark of 2023 soring upward over our house in Rossendale today, 4th Feb.

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: Skylarks
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Feb 23 - 09:13 AM

That's early. I heard a great tit singing last week, and yesterday I heard the first wren song of the year so far. I do miss things due to my high-frequency hearing loss. Skylarks are on the red list of the most endangered birds. Up there in Rossendale you have lots of good open-country habitat for them. In Cornwall we have open coastal heath and short grassland which are ideal. A major cause of their decline is farming practices, not just use of pesticides which can pass up the food chain but also of the proliferation of winter wheat and winter barley (replacing spring-sown crops), which are both too tall by breeding season for skylarks to nest.

Subject: RE: BS: Skylarks
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Feb 23 - 09:34 AM

...I want to walk the green lanes and hedgerows
And feel the heart beating fierce and strong
I want to stand deep in central London
And hear the notes of a skylark's song...

-from our very own Tabster

Subject: RE: BS: Skylarks
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Feb 23 - 10:05 AM

Did you know that they sing and fart at the same time. That's how they hover.

Subject: RE: BS: Skylarks
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Feb 23 - 11:32 AM

Well, Mrrzy, you're as likely to hear a skylark deep in central London as you'd be to hear a nightingale singing in Berkeley Square...

Subject: RE: BS: Skylarks
From: leeneia
Date: 06 Feb 23 - 09:06 PM

That's great, Robin. I'm glad your heard the skylark.

In 1995, I was on a beach in Scotland, and we saw a bird flying high in the air over the nearby land, singing beautifully. I think it was a skylark.