The Skylark (Alauda arvensis)

Or as it is archaically known, north of the border, the laverock!

Described by the RSPB as a small (NLN please note) brown bird, you will see that with its feet on the ground it is indeed an unremarkable looking streaky brown creature with a small crest.

However during the spring and summer the males will soar as high as 100 metres (about 110 yards in old money) singing as they go. This is what makes them truly remarkable, as although the song can be instantly heard, it can take some time to locate such a small bird at such a distance.

Although not migratory in the sense of the swallow, wheatear, or even the curlew, the moorland skylarks (quite sensibly) move to lower ground in the winter, returning to the moors to breed in early spring. As with the waders recently described, these are also ground nesters, mind how you go.

And it’s not just me that finds these tiny birds quite exhilarating, whoever coined the collective noun for a group of skylarks ~ an “exaltation” ~ was obviously similarly moved.

EtU

PS I use the phrase “moorland skylark” not to indicate a separate species, or even a sub-species, merely to indicate that some of these birds enjoy the fells in the same way that we do, whilst others of the same species are quite happy at lower altitudes.