Tim writes: This photograph was a lot more difficult to take than it looks. Once a Skylark has started to sing he rises up and rarely comes down. And when he does appear, it is usually too far away to capture. I photographed this one early morning after a night of heavy rain. This hay meadow was soaking wet and I watched a Skylark land in the wet grass. I focussed on the spot for several minutes until he eventually rose giving me a vanishingly quick photo-opportunity.
The Lark Ascending was originally a poem by George Meredith* which inspired Vaughan Williams to compose his piece 33 years later in 1914. “He drops the silver chain of sound” is a line from Meredith’s poem which describes the song quite well.
Taken with Nikon D500 Nikkor 300mm f4 with 1.4x converter (420mm) set at f5.6 1/1000 ISO 250
- see Skylark in Remarkable Birds
“The lark in the morning she rises off her nest
She goes home in the evening with the dew all on her
breast
And like the jolly ploughboy she whistles and she sings
And goes home in the evening with the dew all on her
wings”
Trad Cornish, English or Irish according to patriotic prejudice!
Lovely shot. And perhaps the note alongside it – “Once a Skylark has started to sing he rises up and rarely comes down” – help explain the long term decline in Skylark numbers.
Could we perhaps suspend nets above Skylark breeding grounds so that when they do rise up, they can be returned to the ground at some later point?