HELP PROTECT THE SKYLARKS IN BUSHY PARK
The Royal Parks charity, which is responsible for running Bushy Park, is urging visitors to help protect the threatened skylark.
Bushy Park manager, Phil Edwards said: “This park has designated skylark protection zones where dogs must be kept on leads and visitors are asked to keep to certain paths.
“This is to prevent anything disturbing nesting skylarks and trampling their nests to try and improve breeding success and help protect this ‘red-listed’ threatened species.”
Due to pressure from increasing visitor numbers, the skylark population within Bushy Park and Richmond Park has declined rapidly.
It is predicted that without urgent action, this species may be lost from the parks. This would result in the loss of two of the closest populations of skylark to central London.
Bushy and Richmond Parks have designated skylark protection zones where dogs must be kept on leads and visitors are asked to keep to certain paths.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP?
- Please keep dogs on leads in the skylark area and keep to the paths — you won’t know if you have walked on a nest until it’s too late.
- Please keep to paths as much as possible. They are designed to protect the fauna, and give nature a good chance of survival.
The skylark is a small, streaked brown bird, larger than a sparrow but smaller than a starling. It has a white-sided tail, and the rear edge of the wing is also white and visible in flight.
These ground-nesting birds breed from February to September and advertise their territories by a spectacular song-flight, during which the bird rises almost vertically with rapid wingbeats, hovering for several minutes and then parachuting down. Song flights of up to one hour have been recorded, and the birds can reach 1,000 feet before descending.
