Skylarks
are resident in SKYLARK
Skylarks
are resident in
Skylarks
are slightly bigger than House Sparrows, and the
sexes are identical. They
have brownish upper parts, and are buff-white below, with a streaked breast. The
adults have a small crest, but that is usually difficult to see. The
characteristic song of displaying males, fluttering high overhead, can be heard
any time between March and July.
Breeding territories are usually established in March
and April, and the first
clutch, usually of 3-4 eggs, is generally laid in late April or early May. The
incubation period is usually around 11 days, and adults may be seen carrying
food to the nest any time from early May onwards. The chicks leave the nest
after about 9-10 days, but they cannot fly then, and they fledge a few days
later, so the first young are usually seen in the last week of May. Replacement
clutches, and second broods, mean that adults might be seen carrying food, or
with recently fledged young, anytime up until mid July.
The distribution map from “An Atlas of the Breeding
Birds of Shropshire” (1992), shown on the previous page, confirms that Skylark
breed throughout the County, except on sloping, wooded or intensively cropped
ground. The more recent map
shows the same pattern. Reductions in the population of a numerous and
widespread species such as Skylark do not show up on this type of map, which
only shows if it is present or not. It does not distinguish between one pair in
a tetrad, or 1000.
As the birds are highly sedentary, they are likely to breed in the same areas
where they are seen outside the breeding season.
Most records from other times of the year have corresponding breeding
season records, but a few do not. Such records are shown on the 2000 – 04 Map as
small blue dots.
Nationally, the Skylark population declined very
steeply between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s, resulting in an estimated 52%
decline between 1970 and 1999. The
species was added to the Red List of
the Population Status of Birds in the
Skylarks
need short vegetation for feeding throughout their breeding cycle. The massive
population decline on lowland farmland has been caused partly by habitat changes
in spring and early summer - the trend from spring to autumn planting of
cereals, and increased silage production, both of which have led to the height
of the vegetation increasing to an unacceptable level during the second half of
the Skylark’s breeding season. This prevents them raising a second brood each
year, which is essential to maintain the population.
Conversely,
breeding bird surveys on the Long Mynd and the Stiperstones have found extremely
high densities by national standards, suggesting that these areas, where there
have been few changes in the vegetation, are still prime habitat for the
species.
The population decline is also attributed to reduced
availability of food outside the breeding season. Skylarks form flocks in
winter, and feed on farmland seeds, particularly in stubble fields. The big
reduction in this winter food supply has been caused by agricultural
intensification over the last 20–30 years, particularly the change from spring
to autumn cereals, resulting in the loss of winter stubbles, coupled with use of
herbicides to remove “weeds”, another major source of seeds. These changes
have reduced the over-winter survival rate of adult and young birds.
Also, Skylarks feed their young in the nest on insect
larvae, particularly caterpillars, so their breeding success will also be
impaired by the use of insecticides.
As a result of reduced breeding productivity and winter
starvation, insufficient young birds are reaching breeding age to replace the
older breeding birds that are dying at an even faster rate because they too are
starving.
Research has shown that leaving bare patches in fields
of autumn cereals increases breeding productivity, by allowing two broods to be
raised. Thus, the habitat changes necessary to reverse the population decline of
this species include leaving bare patches in fields of autumn cereals,
increasing the supply of insect larvae in the summer, and increasing the supply
of seeds throughout the year, particularly in winter. Reduced use of herbicides,
and increased plant diversity in conservation strips and headlands at the edge
of fields, are necessary to help this species.