South Ribble Orienteering Club kite where skylark breed!!! A skylark sang in display flight for several minutes. They return each year to Scout Scar to breed, establishing territories, finding mates, settling in. We were seeking skylark and I'd been asked by the Lake District National Park to check notices requiring walkers to keep all dogs on leads, from 1st March, to avoid disturbing ground-nesting skylark and meadow pipit. The breeding season begins in February so the date's too late, as I reported some years ago. Skylark conservation status is red, and with a huge decline in numbers and loss of habitat they need protecting.
Ground-nesting is something of a misnomer because skylark simply lay their eggs amongst grass tussocks which afford slight shelter, so they are highly vulnerable. Listening to skylark, we were dismayed to realise that an orienteering event was taking place, directing runners into the heart of skylark territory. Their last redoubt. Numbers fall drastically because habitat is being lost, often to disturbance. The even was underway, there was nothing to be done- not at the time.
Scout Scar and Helsington Barrows are a SIte of Special Scientific Interest so that status should ensure protection of habitat, of flora and fauna. Skylark conservation status is red. South Lakeland Orienteering Club is a local organisation so some club members will know this area well and I'd have thought they would wish to protect not only ground-nesting birds but their reputation for a responsible approach to conservation. So, at the time, nothing to be done. But now it's time to ask them to reflect on recreational disturbance, on the damage they have inflicted on Scout Scar and Helsington Barrows today.
Scout Scar and Helsington Barrows are a SIte of Special Scientific Interest so that status should ensure protection of habitat, of flora and fauna. Skylark conservation status is red. South Lakeland Orienteering Club is a local organisation so some club members will know this area well and I'd have thought they would wish to protect not only ground-nesting birds but their reputation for a responsible approach to conservation. So, at the time, nothing to be done. But now it's time to ask them to reflect on recreational disturbance, on the damage they have inflicted on Scout Scar and Helsington Barrows today.
Skylark were proclaiming their territories. A number of orienteering controls were located at the heart of that territory. It is not possible to quantify the damage done, but it is established that skylark abandon territories if there's disturbance. It is impossible for myself and my friends to encourage dog walkers not to venture into that zone if they see orienteers directed there. So years of work is undermined. LDNP and NE notices are located in that precise zone which is identified as territory for ground-nesting birds. EIther Natural England or the Lake District National Park would have given permission for this event. Who gave it, and why?
Amongst birders, there's a mnemonic to tell that a male skylark is seeking a mate, and proclaiming his territory. His song says , 'I'm here, where are you?' Or, to defend his territory, 'I'm here, bugger off.'
Amongst birders, there's a mnemonic to tell that a male skylark is seeking a mate, and proclaiming his territory. His song says , 'I'm here, where are you?' Or, to defend his territory, 'I'm here, bugger off.'
This has happened before, back in May 2012. And at that time it was discussed with Natural England, the Lake District National Park and the orienteering clubs. My book, Cumbrian Contrasts, was written in response to that event. This extract is from a chapter called Save the Skylark:
When six wooden ladder-stiles appeared along a stretch of wall I knew what it meant. The British Orienteering Championships was come to the Lake District and an event was scheduled for Sunday 6 May 2012 on Scout Scar. In less than 48 hours’ time! Temporary stiles would protect the walls but would take runners right into the heart of skylark territory, lots of runners would be searching for hidden controls. Skylark and meadow pipit are ground-nesting birds which makes them vulnerable to disturbance. The cuckoo had arrived on cue to parasitize meadow pipit nests hidden in tussocks of blue moor grass. It’s intricate terrain, a good choice for orienteering in autumn and winter but not now, not in the breeding season. What could be done? I sent an email to key officials, marked URGENT. They must have been as dismayed to receive my email as I was to see those stiles appear. They had the necessary permissions, the event was imminent but their response was swift and positive. On Saturday morning I met the controller and planner to pinpoint where the skylark were and to explain how this habitat works. On Sunday morning they had cordoned off the most sensitive area and marshals would disqualify anyone who infringed the ban. The orienteers’ response was impressive. Disaster averted in the nick of time. Orienteering has an ethos of respect for the natural world, for landscape. Planners had had to negotiate permissions with farmers, with landowners, with Natural England, The National Park and The National Trust. Any infringement and there won’t be a next time and that specialist orienteering map will be useless. There are parameters: it’s about enjoying sport whilst respecting wildlife
Copyright Cumbrian Contrasts, Jan Wiltshire
That event in 2012 is the genesis of my book. On that occasion the orienteers responded swiftly and helpfully. Saving the skylark can be done, I thought. What's dispiriting is that you have to fight the same battle over and over and over.
WHY? I've been studying the birds in this area since 2000 and I've shared information with LDNP and NE. I pointed out in 2012 that skylark, meadow pipit, cuckoo, linnet and redpoll all breed here and I have photographic records. NE did not have the resources to fund bird surveys so their SSSI designation remains unsatisfactory. When I was writing About Scout Scar I walked Brigsteer Wood with the late Brian Fereday, NT forester warden at Sizergh who had lived here all his life. He told me how arbitrary SSSI designations are, so is Access Land. They do not always reflect the reality on the ground, and they do not adapt to changing times.
When six wooden ladder-stiles appeared along a stretch of wall I knew what it meant. The British Orienteering Championships was come to the Lake District and an event was scheduled for Sunday 6 May 2012 on Scout Scar. In less than 48 hours’ time! Temporary stiles would protect the walls but would take runners right into the heart of skylark territory, lots of runners would be searching for hidden controls. Skylark and meadow pipit are ground-nesting birds which makes them vulnerable to disturbance. The cuckoo had arrived on cue to parasitize meadow pipit nests hidden in tussocks of blue moor grass. It’s intricate terrain, a good choice for orienteering in autumn and winter but not now, not in the breeding season. What could be done? I sent an email to key officials, marked URGENT. They must have been as dismayed to receive my email as I was to see those stiles appear. They had the necessary permissions, the event was imminent but their response was swift and positive. On Saturday morning I met the controller and planner to pinpoint where the skylark were and to explain how this habitat works. On Sunday morning they had cordoned off the most sensitive area and marshals would disqualify anyone who infringed the ban. The orienteers’ response was impressive. Disaster averted in the nick of time. Orienteering has an ethos of respect for the natural world, for landscape. Planners had had to negotiate permissions with farmers, with landowners, with Natural England, The National Park and The National Trust. Any infringement and there won’t be a next time and that specialist orienteering map will be useless. There are parameters: it’s about enjoying sport whilst respecting wildlife
Copyright Cumbrian Contrasts, Jan Wiltshire
That event in 2012 is the genesis of my book. On that occasion the orienteers responded swiftly and helpfully. Saving the skylark can be done, I thought. What's dispiriting is that you have to fight the same battle over and over and over.
WHY? I've been studying the birds in this area since 2000 and I've shared information with LDNP and NE. I pointed out in 2012 that skylark, meadow pipit, cuckoo, linnet and redpoll all breed here and I have photographic records. NE did not have the resources to fund bird surveys so their SSSI designation remains unsatisfactory. When I was writing About Scout Scar I walked Brigsteer Wood with the late Brian Fereday, NT forester warden at Sizergh who had lived here all his life. He told me how arbitrary SSSI designations are, so is Access Land. They do not always reflect the reality on the ground, and they do not adapt to changing times.
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