Get the plot

Farmers cannot go back to planting crops in the spring instead of the autumn, as they will earn less money. Instead, we have looked at ways we can help skylarks to nest in crops grown in the autumn. 

At the RSPB’s Hope Farm in Cambridgeshire, we have found that skylarks produce more young if bare patches of ground are left in fields. These patches are about 4 metres by 4 metres in size - probably about the size of your classroom – and are known as skylark plots.

The skylark plots are quite small, so the farmer doesn’t lose much of the crop. But the space is big enough to make a difference to skylarks that are searching for insects. 

It is easy to leave the patches too – the farmer just turns off the machine that sows the seed for a few seconds.