Dawn is still not too early in the morning to make it worthwhile rising just that little bit earlier than usual to witness one of nature's most amazing but under-rated spectacles, the dawn chorus.

It never ceases to amaze me just how loud this spectacle is as all the songbirds make a real effort and create a myriad of bird songs that seem to intertwine into something akin to an orchestral movement.

Robins, blackbirds and thrushes can be seen, perched high in the branches of the tree, silhouetted against the lighting sky, chests swelling and beaks open singing for all they are worth.

This orchestral display does not last long into the morning and usually wanes away an hour after dawn.

For the rest of the day, there is always sporadic song from the traditional songbirds but it is never at such an intensity.

One bird which is not traditionally part of the dawn chorus is the skylark.

However, this small and drab brown bird to me possesses one of the most emotionally stirring spring songs of any bird.

The skylark is not found in urban areas but can be detected in pastures and field margins around the town and also frequently out on the heathy nature reserves.

The skylark is a ground nesting bird and, because of that fact, is very vulnerable to disturbance.

This and the loss of suitable habitat have caused numbers of this bird to decline alarmingly in recent years.

So these days listening to the skylark's song is even more of a pleasure.

Skylarks don't perch on branches and sing - they fly steeply into the sky on rapidly beating wings, they then hover high into the sky, like miniature kites, and sing one of the loveliest of songs.

Just when you think this is going on all day, the skylark swoops back to earth and with a last flurry of song dives back into the tall, rough grasses that typify the habitat typical of this bird.

In the next couple of weeks, the skylarks will have found a mate and laid a clutch of four or five eggs in among the grass.

These eggs and the subsequent chicks then must remain camouflaged from hungry predators until the young are fledged.

This is obviously a very dangerous time for the young skylarks.

The parents try to help out as much as they can by trying to draw any would-be predators away by faking a broken wing and flapping and hopping across the ground in a direction away from their nest.