THE real fascination with the study of wildlife is the more you study nature, the less we seem to know.

We can guess at why populations of animals rise and fall, but we can often do no more than that.

The decline of the skylark is a case in point.

When I were ‘No’but a lad’, the sound of spring in East Lancashire, and elsewhere, was the soaring sound of a skylark over the uplands.

At one time there might be three or four birds singing in competition, but now we are lucky if we see one.

Reasons given for this include the use of chemical fertilisers, and the loss of habitat, as more and more land is taken over, either for farming, or for building.

At 18cms (seven inches) long, the skylark is widely spread throughout Britain.

I wrote this way back in 1980 and the species has declined very rapidly since.

The female makes a nest in a tuft of grass, and there is often a step leading into the cup of the nest.

Three or four eggs are incubated by the female alone and they hatch in only 11 days.

Then the male helps with the feeding, and the young are given worms and insects.

The adults, however, are mainly seed eaters, but the young do need lots of protein to help build up their muscles.

The breeding season is in full swing by the end of April, which gives time for two, or even three, broods to be raised in a season, It looks like the wet summer of 2012 will have reduced the skylark population still further.

There is no doubt that early in our civilisation, human activities benefited the skylark by the felling of woods and the creation of fields.

Later activities, such as the spraying of crops with chemicals, have had the reverse effect.

Round of applause for Clapham

Forget six counties overhung with smoke

Forget the snorting steam and piston stroke

Forget the spreading of the hideous town

Think rather of the pack horse on the down.

THIS poem was called ‘The Earthly Paradise’ and was written by William Morris (1834 to 1896).

Morris did not believe in industry, which was a bit short-sighted, but he would still love Clapham, now slumbering in a wonderful time warp of pack horse trails and an old turnpike road, now bypassed by the A65 from Settle to Ingleton, and within easy reach of East Lancashire. Here is Ingleborough Hall, one-time home of Reginald Farrer, who was born in 1880 and became one of the most famous plant hunters of his age, especially in the field of Alpine plants.

It is fitting that his former home is now a field study centre of schools, and that we can all take the Reginald Farrer trail towards Ingleborough cave, which is well worth a long visit, and so is the lake, which was developed by his famiy.

William Morris would have loved the old packhorse bridge at Clapham, and so do I.

Indeed, the whole village is a joy, and is particularly pleasant at this time of year.

Tree Week good for woodpeckers

AT one time the tree cover in England was so sparse that woodland birds, especially the woodpeckers, showed an alarming decline.

As we approach National Tree Week in November, it will be obvious that more and more people love planting trees.

As trees mature, hollow and trees damaged by wind will be ideal habitat for the green woodpecker, left.

It’s an attractive bird and both sexes are a delicate green above, with a yellowish rump and grey-green underparts.

There is a red area on the crown, but this is more extensive in the male. A close look at the moustachial stripe, however, is a certain guide to sex.

In the hen bird the area round the eyes is uniformly black, while in the male these markings have a red centre.

The green woodpecker, at around 32cms (12 to 13 inches), is by far the largest of the British woodpeckers and its call, which is like a high-pitched laugh, is easily recognised.

It often calls just as it starts to pour down, and in Lancashire it was once called the ‘rain bird’.