Richard Collins: Skylarks are the star singers of the park

Each morning, blackcaps and thrushes sing in Malahide’s Robswall Park. The star performers, however, are skylarks. Like the other songsters, they are ‘passerines’; three toes point forward and a fourth projects backwards.

A passerine’s feet lock automatically when it lands on a branch. The bird can sleep comfortably when perched. However, with no trees on the open grassland where skylarks nest, this ability is of little use to them.