Trail bikes frightened off poor skylarks

A walker reading one of my pocket-book West Cork walking guides contacted me to say that, although she had walked a saltmarsh behind Garafeen Strand near Kilbrittain for 10 years, she had never seen the skylarks I mentioned in my book. 

Were skylarks there at one time?

I replied to say they were. I saw them climb the sky and heard them sing in spring and summer. I once found a nest in early May. However, my book was published in 1996.