Skylarking
The Skylarks are busy, here at Aust near Bristol.
![Skylark - Aust - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Aust-The-Hall-of-Einar-2184-725x484.jpg)
The RSPB says, “Its recent and dramatic population declines make it a Red List species.” According to The State of the UK’s Birds, the long-term population trend for Skylarks is a 59% decline from 1970–2015. For every five Skylarks in 1970 there are just two left now.
![Skylark - Aust - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Aust-The-Hall-of-Einar-2150-725x483.jpg)
The Severn Bridge is a spectacular backdrop for their display. There’s a noisy reminder of our military as well as our industrial priorities overhead:
![Aust - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Aust-The-Hall-of-Einar-2270-725x483.jpg)
It’s drowning out their song.
![Skylark - Aust - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Aust-The-Hall-of-Einar-2186-725x483.jpg)
It’s tricky to capture photographs of them:
Skylarks were probably always rare specialists. They would originally have been birds of salt marsh and steppe grassland. Our agricultural revolution meant a huge growth in their population. A consequence of us chopping and burning all our forests to make space for crops was that we made space for them too.
![Skylark - Aust - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Aust-The-Hall-of-Einar-2190-725x483.jpg)
Now, our industrial agriculture is killing them. You can talk all you like about agri-environment schemes, crop spraying, winter stubble and field edges; that doesn’t change the fact that in Britain millions of Skylarks have had nothing to eat, nothing to drink and nowhere for their families to live.
![Skylark - Aust - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Aust-The-Hall-of-Einar-2219-725x483.jpg)
Here, at Aust, they are free to live in their original habitat. They are living life on the edge; as are we.