Where and when Skylark breeds fairly commonly throughout Britain and Ireland, with a general retreat from high ground and some southward withdrawal in winter. Woodlark breeds on heathland and forest clearings, mainly in East Anglia, Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset and Devon, some sites (particularly in East Anglia and Devon) being deserted in the winter, when they may occur on nearby stubble, often with Skylarks. A few appear at south and east coast migration sites, especially in April/May and October/November. Short-toed Lark is a regular vagrant, currently averaging 19 records a year, with a peak of 45 in 1996. Most occur in May and September/October at coastal migration sites, particularly in Shetland and Scilly.
General features A familiar bird of open ground, particularly arable farmland. A largish, broad-beamed but rather nondescript buffy-brown lark, with a short crest and quite a thick, pointed bill. The face is rather plain (only a faint eye-stripe behind the eye) with a slight but noticeable supercilium. The general plumage tone varies (becoming paler with wear), but the upperparts are well streaked and the breast shows a finely streaked gorget. Juveniles are noticeably scalloped with buff on the back and scapulars, but acquire adult-like streaking after a complete late summer/early autumn post-juvenile moult.
Flight identification More distinctive in flight, showing a conspicuous white trailing edge to the wing and white outer tail feathers. Relatively slim-winged (for a lark) and evenly proportioned. The flight is flappy, with periodic wing closures, and overhead migrants look rather thrush-like. On the breeding grounds they have a distinctive fluttery flight with the emphasis on the downstroke, so that the wings are bowed downwards; they indulge in aerial chases and hover above long grass and crops before alighting.
Voice Although it may sing from the ground or from a perch, it usually sings from a stationary position high in the sky, with flappy wingbeats and the tail half-spread. The song is a familiar thin, continuous and sustained musical refrain, sometimes containing strongly mimetic phrases. The call is a hard, rippling chirrup, treeip and so on; flocks also give soft, conversational see-up calls.
Pale Skylarks Occasional aberrant, pale sandy-coloured Skylarks may be perplexing.
General features Unlikely to be seen away from traditional southern heathland sites, although small flocks may gather on nearby winter stubble. At their breeding sites, they readily perch in trees (unlike Skylark) but feed on the ground. Distinctly smaller than Skylark but structural differences should instantly attract attention: a stocky lark, with a short crest and noticeably short tail. Although quite thick at the base, the bill is finely pointed. When settled, the most distinctive character is the prominent, creamy-white supercilia which meet on the nape in a V or a pale mottled area (also with a diffuse pale ear-covert surround). The facial pattern is otherwise stronger than Skylark’s, with a noticeable dark brown stripe behind the eye and a variable dark brown rear border to orangey-brown or rather richly coloured rusty-brown ear-coverts (with a buff spot in the lower corner). The upperparts are strongly streaked with black on quite a rich rusty-brown background (especially when fresh); the underparts are buffy-white with a clear band of well-defined black streaking across the breast. Thick buffy-white tips to noticeably black primary coverts form a distinctive black-and-buff patch on the edge of the closed wing and this can be noticeable even in flight. The rather short tail shows a whitish tip. Like Skylark, juveniles are scalloped on the back and scapulars but they too acquire adult-like streaking following a complete late summer/early autumn post-juvenile moult.
Flight identification The short tail is particularly obvious, and it looks very round-winged compared to Skylark. The jerky, undulating flight is strangely reminiscent of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker’s Dendrocopos minor. It lacks Skylark’s white trailing edge to the wings; the fringes to the outer tail feathers are very narrow and often sullied with brown, but much more obvious is a thick white tip to the tail, broadest on the outer feathers.
Voice Its beautiful rich and mellow song is delivered in shorter phrases than Skylark, starting slowly but accelerating into a characteristic downward-lilting lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu; it is often given in a circular song flight. The call is low, soft and musical; transcriptions include: tuloo-ee, tu-loo, tu-willit, and wlee-tloo.
General features A small, compact, pale sparrow-like lark that can appear rounded and dumpy or sleek and pipit-like. Most are pale sandy-brown above and whitish below. It lacks a strong crest and often appears rather round-headed; this, combined with the small but rather thick pale bill, noticeable creamy supercilium and dark eye-stripe behind a beady black eye, create a facial expression reminiscent of female House Sparrow Passer domesticus; there is usually also a faint brown semi-circular line below the eye. Close inspection usually reveals a small dark patch at the breast-sides (which can be invisible until the bird stretches up); diffuse fine streaking may be present below the dark patches and sometimes also across the upper breast (even in spring). It has creamy fringes to the greater coverts and tertials, and contrasting dark centres to the median coverts, which may produce a dark line across the wing, reminiscent of Tawny Pipit Anthus campestris. The legs are noticeably pale, orange or pink, and it moves in erratic bursts with a hesitant, jerky walk. Most autumn vagrants are in complete first-winter plumage, but they may retain some scalloped, dark-centred juvenile scapulars. Note that there is considerable geographical variation in plumage tone: some are distinctly darker and very dingy, being dark buff or even brownish below, some are greyer, while others show reddish tints to the head and, faintly, to the tail. Note that the very long tertials more or less completely cloak the primaries (a diagnostic difference from the extremely rare Lesser Short-toed Lark C. rufescens).
Flight identification Slim and evenly proportioned, appearing rather more pipit-like than most larks. The flight is usually fast and dashing, often low over the ground. They typically look pale and sandy in flight, but they lack a white trailing edge to the wings and show only inconspicuous white outer tail feathers.
Call The flight call is usually a hard, clipped t-t-trr or trrick trrick, a more clipped chr-ip chr-ip or a more trilling pirrrick, all vaguely suggesting a hard, sparrow-like Skylark.
Reference Dennis & Wallace (1975).
Where and when Formerly a great rarity, Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica has spread northwards in s. Europe and is now a regular visitor, currently averaging 26 records a year with a peak of at least 61 in 1987. Most occur in spring (mainly April/May) but with records as early as late February. It is less regular in autumn, but occasional late October/early November influxes occur during southerly winds.
Plumage Adult Similar in shape to ‘Barn’ Swallow Hirundo rustica, Red-rumped is most easily located by its pale rump. This is narrower and far less eye-catching than the gleaming white rump of House Martin Delichon urbicum and is pale buff in colour, often graduating to deep orange-buff towards the upper edge. The undertail-coverts and tail are black and, because of the pale rump, appear ‘stuck on’ to the rear of the body. Also distinctive is the head pattern: the forehead and face are pale, orange-red, extending back onto the ear- coverts and isolating both the dark eye and the blackish crown, which appears as a ‘skull cap’. This isolation is further enhanced by a narrow buff collar around the hindneck, but this can be frustratingly difficult to see. More importantly, it lacks ‘Barn’ Swallow’s red throat and dark blue breast-band; instead, the chin, throat and underparts are orangey-buff, with fine and inconspicuous lines of brown streaking. The underwings are slightly plainer than ‘Barn’ Swallow’s, lacking the strong contrast between the white underwing-coverts and the dark primaries and secondaries. Juvenile Late autumn vagrants are most likely to be juveniles. They are similar to adults, but slightly duller with a paler rump and ear-coverts; they can be aged by the narrow buff fringes to the browner wing feathers, those on the tertials being most obvious, especially when perched. Juvenile’s tail is slightly shorter than the adult’s but is nevertheless surprisingly long.
Structure and flight Both its shape and flight are somewhere intermediate between ‘Barn’ Swallow and House Martin, having a somewhat stiffer flight action than the former, with the wings less swept back and perhaps more gliding. The tail-streamers are very long but are often held closed together, producing a markedly tapered rear end, oddly reminiscent of a flying Budgerigar Melopsittacus undulatus.
Calls British vagrants are generally silent but, if heard, the calls are markedly different from ‘Barn’ Swallow: quite a distinctive soft, rolling, sparrow-like shreep, shirip, a deeper chrrrp and so on.
Asian Red-rumped Swallows
A Red-rumped Swallow seen in Orkney and then on Skye in June 2011 showed characters of one of the Asian races daurica or japonica. These forms differ from European rufula as follows: (1) they have a blue-black central hindneck (therefore lacking a complete pale collar) and (2) the dark streaks on the underparts are longer, broader and much more prominent (see Rowlands 2012).
Juvenile House Martins
Although unlikely to be confused with Red-rumped Swallow, it should be noted that autumn juvenile House Martins are distinctly duller than the adults, with some individuals being particularly greyish on the rump, face and flanks, and some even show a hint of a narrow greyish breast-band. They may also show dark scaling on the rump and rear flanks.
Swallow × House Martin hybrids
Another potential pitfall is provided by the occasional occurrence of ‘Barn’ Swallow × House Martin hybrids, but these are much rarer than Red-rumped Swallows. One such example, a juvenile described by Charlwood (1973), clearly showed intermediate characters, including a large buff rump, a warm buff chin and throat, and a dark breast-band ‘less distinct’ than that of ‘Barn’ Swallow.
References Charlwood (1973), Rowlands (2012).
