Skylark flying over Selsley Common

I felt more rested this morning and managed to hoover most of the house, which was definitely necessary. The sunshine was warming the land and the clean clothes were able to air on the washing line.

I suggested a short walk on Selsley Common, which Helena had never visited either. It is a very open landscape on the top of the Cotswold escarpment and looking westwards it overlooks the River Severn vale and on the far side to the Forest of Dean and beyond to Wales.

All of the local commons seem to have an abundance of skylarks, which we heard singing profusely and beautifully in the sky above us. I suddenly saw a skylark on the grass not far from us and managed to photograph it, before it flew up into the air and started its song. We saw several others on the ground and heard many more in the air, but all my pictures were just a little soft which makes it very hard to separate their camouflaged feathers from the grasses.

As we returned to the car, I was looking north towards where we live when I saw a skylark take off and I snapped it. I hope you can see it above the skyline. The houses across the Nailsworth valley are nestling below Rodborough Common, whilst behind it is the Golden Valley and the next ridge near to where we live, about a mile and half as the skylark flies.

I will come back here with my tripod, a picnic and a bottle of wine on a summers day and hope to catch a better close-up photo of a skylark for you.


This is from Wikipedia:
Selsley Common is a large open expanse of about 160 acres (65 ha) and a rich habitat for rare flora and fauna. More often than not, a silent wind rushes up from the Severn Valley and Bristol Channel and over the grass. The call of a bird can be caught on this wind and carried for miles. During the summer, bird song mingles with the sound of cattle as Commoners can, and still do, exercise grazing rights.

Despite attempts to enclose this land, it has been vigorously defended over the years. Indeed the first recorded dispute was in the Saxon period, and the threat to enclose the Common in the 19th century met with vocal public outrage. There is one area which did become enclosed, known locally as 'Dead Man's Acre'. The story goes that a man was told that he could have as much land of the common that he could enclose in one day. The effort though, proved too much, and killed him.

Dotted over the Common are the long abandoned remains of quarries once used to supply stone for local building and walling. Lesser hollows are the remains of a medieval soldier's camp - so identified in 1942 by Captain H.S. Gracie. In addition, the grassed-over ways used by the quarry wagons can still be seen.