Woodlark Lullula arborea

The Woodlark, Lullula arborea, is a small and compact lark belonging to the family Alaudidae, and one of the most melodious of all British birds. Adults are richly streaked in buff, chestnut, and black, with a short tail, distinctive white-tipped wing feathers visible in flight, and a well-defined white supercilium meeting at the nape – a useful identification feature. The song is sublime: a rich, fluty, melancholic series of descending phrases often delivered in prolonged circling song-flight, and one of the finest sounds of the early spring countryside. The Woodlark is a specialist of open, sandy habitats with a mosaic of bare ground, short vegetation, and scattered trees, making Suffolk’s Breckland and Sandlings heaths among its most important British strongholds, alongside similar habitats in Surrey and Hampshire. Image: © Uriel Levy, iNaturalist.

Find out more: RSPB, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, iNaturalist