My first sight of a skylark this year

Edit:
I've just swapped the original 'Extra' to become the main picture (on Tuesday 23rd Jan) but described in last paragraph ....

I love skylarks and have grown more so since I can watch and listen to them so regularly in the area we live in. They love the traditional limestone grasslands which tend to predominate on the hilltops between the valleys around  Stroud, some of which are maintained as traditional grassland by the National Trust. I've added it as an 'Extra'.

Last weekend I walked on Selsley Common, one such hilltop, and while retiring to the car I heard the distinctive song of a skylark and then saw a pair of them flying from one part of the common to another, only about fifty yards distant from each other. I didn’t follow them but took pleasure I in knowing they were around, as I know they are residents rather than visitors.

I heard another skylark sing today when retiring to my car after a short walk, again on a common which is a sensible place to perambulate when the weather is so wet (the limestone allows water to percolate downwards freely, until ti meets a layer of clay. But this time I could see it flying and then landing in the short grass on the common. I stopped and switched my camera on and walked slowly towards it. I could see it looking at me through the lens but it didn’t fly away. Instead it started to peck at the ground  and ran between tufts of longer grass where it could feel safe.

Eventually I watched it walk up onto a slightly taller tuft of grasses, standing to check out the terrain, which is when I got this picture. A dog walker came nearby soon after who did disturb it and it flew away, but only about thirty yards onto a section of flattened short grass where a path had formed. There it started pecking at the muddy ground and hunting for food.