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no skylarks this year (1 Viewer)

robrg655

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theres a farm near me,lovely walk on summer mornings listening to the skylarks but they havent turned up this year (north east uk).anyone else here in north east seen/heard any skylarks ?.
 
Plenty around here in southeast Northumbs. Try coastal dunes for a start, or any less-intensive farmland. They are declining badly on intensively farmed fields though; I'd guess your farmer is using too many sprays, or working on the fields at the wrong time of year when the larks are nesting.
 
Back in the late 70,s and even early 80,s our family had a great dane and strangely at the time it did not dawn on me on what was actually happening, It was years later before I realised why the dane often had egg yolk around his muzzle at the time I never actually saw him find any larks nests, once he,d got a taste for the eggs he,d purposely know doubt go out looking for them it saddens me to think about it now, the only consolation to this Was there were more larks around then, so any folk out there who have dogs capable of this bare in mind ground Nesting birds during the nesting season.
 
theres a farm near me,lovely walk on summer mornings listening to the skylarks but they havent turned up this year (north east uk).anyone else here in north east seen/heard any skylarks ?.


I've been hearing one every time I go to M+S or Boots at the Arnison Centre retail park at Pity Me in Durham.
 
You might have to get your walking boots on!
I sometimes find upland areas are more productive.
Yesterday we did a 4.5 mile circuit of Holme Park Fell, Cumbria. It's a steady climb and I counted 14.
We've climbed Wild Boar Fell in Cumbria too. Generally I count between 30 to 40 up to the 2500 summit.
They're not bothered by tractors preparing fields or cutting hay up there.
 
Have high densities of skylarks on the farm. Key is late mowing. I manage farm for corncrake (I'm in a corncrake agri-environmental scheme). Mowing takes place in Mid-September. I have an open sward on farm (low N application), so provides good habitat for nesting skylarks. Annual mowing prevents any build up of rank growth. The meadows are multi-species traditional hay meadows so plenty of insect for skylarks.

I sow a crop of wild bird seed (kale and fodder radish) for twite, but large numbers of skylark use it as well during winter. Can have around 150-200 skylarks on days during the winter. The farm is small, only 25 acres.
 
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