
Skylark
by Jim Crumley
In the Encounters in the Wild series, renowned nature writer Jim Crumley gets up close and personal with British wildlife: here, the skylark. With his inimitable passion and vision, he relives memorable encounters with some of our best-loved native species, offering intimate insights into their extraordinary lives.
โWatch this bird poised on a tussock, awaiting โจa signal from the wind, a thumbs up, an urging gust. Lift-off is gently inclined and silent. The transformations from gentle incline to vertical columnar flight, and from silence to song, coincide within a few airborne seconds, a few feet of ascent. The song is full-throated from the first note, as self-confident as the opening bars of Beethovenโs Fifth or Armstrongโs West End Blues. There is no preamble, no subtle dropped hint of the glories to come. The glories start with the downbeat.โ
REVIEWS OF Skylark
โEnthralling and often strident.โ Observer

