It is mainly resident (non-migratory) in the west of its range, but eastern populations of this passerine bird are more migratory, moving further south in winter.

The woodlark was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae and given the binomial name Alauda arborea.

[2] This binomial name is identical to the Latin name used in 1676 by English ornithologist Francis Willughby in his Ornithologiae libri tres.

[8] Found mainly in Europe, the mountains of northern Africa and western Asia, the woodlark is present across much of its range.

The extent of the woodlark's range is England in the west, parts of northern Egypt to the south, Iran and Turkmenistan to the east and the Scandinavian Peninsula in the north.

[5] The male woodlark has a song flight similar to that of the Eurasian skylark but flutters more as he rises and spirals upwards, circling the ground as he sings at a fairly constant height.

The nest is generally made from grass, bracken, roots and moss and constructed in a depression on the ground.

As with many of the birds in the lark family, the woodlark is primarily vegetarian as an adult but during the breeding season will also eat medium-sized insects.

[11] Habitat loss is thought to be a major contributor to this, with dry grassland, fallow land, lowland heathland and pasture being lost to agriculture, abandonment and development across Northern Europe.

[15] Recent wildfires in England are also thought to have damaged the population, with some protected woodlark habitats having been destroyed.

So tiny a trickle of sóng-strain; And all round not to be found For brier, bough, furrow, or gréen ground Before or behind or far or at hand Either left either right Anywhere in the súnlight.

"The Woodlark", written by Gerard Manley Hopkins, departs from the standard tradition of British nature poetry by trying to transliterate the bird's song into made-up words.

This is backed up by the entry of a minister from Clinic, Perthshire in the Old Statistical Account, which reads "The notes of the wood-lark are heard, delightful along the banks of the Lunan in spring and autumn; its nocturnal song has a dying cadence peculiarly melodious and has often been mistaken for the song of the Philomel [nightingale].