Skylark Alauda arvensis

The Skylark, Alauda arvensis, is a medium-sized lark belonging to the family Alaudidae, and one of the most celebrated birds in the British countryside. Streaked brown with a small erectile crest, it is unremarkable in appearance, but transcends this entirely through its extraordinary song – a sustained, complex, and melodious outpouring delivered in prolonged hovering song-flight high above open ground, for minutes at a time. A bird of open farmland, heathland, grassland, and coastal habitats, it nests on the ground in low vegetation. The Skylark has suffered one of the most dramatic declines of any British farmland bird, with populations falling by over 50% since the 1970s due to changes in arable farming practice – particularly the switch from spring to autumn sowing – and is a Red List species of serious conservation concern. Image: © 파랑 (sanhee0701), iNaturalist.

Find out more: RSPB, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, iNaturalist