Is it a skylark?
I’m out on the merse one morning conducting a survey. The sun is shining. The wind is calm. All very picturesque.
Suddenly a bird starts singing, effortlessly rising higher and higher in the air, its song seems to last forever. I’m mesmerised. But the tranquility is soon interrupted by my boss asking the question I fear: “what bird is that?”. I glare at him, knowing that he’s testing me but my mind has drawn a blank.
Since then, I have found out that it was a skylark. They can climb up to an impressive 300 metres in the air and their song can last for five minutes or more. Here at Caerlaverock, winter is coming to an end and bird song fills the reserve. This is exciting as birds sing for courtship and territory, telling us that the breeding season is approaching. On the reserve we have already seen blue tits checking out our boxes in the Peter Scott Trail and one even carrying nesting material! However, it has also highlighted that my bird song ID needs some (or more realistically a lot) of work...
Bird song is an important part of our breeding bird surveys so with this in mind (and that my colleagues will continue to test me) I have set myself the goal of learning at least some passerine bird songs by the end of the month. Of course, you don’t have to be an expert to appreciate the beauty of bird song but I hope to not be a complete novice by the time my placement ends!
Words by Ed (Emily) Dixon
Feature image by Alex Hillier
