This is the classic aerial singer of wide open spaces: a streaky brown bird, bigger than a sparrow but smaller than a thrush, with a short, stubby crest and angular wings that are almost white on the trailing edge.

Despite widespread and even quite catastrophic declines in many areas, largely connected with changes in agricultural practices, the Skylark remains a familiar and generally quite common bird. In Spring and Summer, the song of the skylark is still to be heard over large areas of farmland and moorland: one of the most evocative countryside sounds.