[thes3raph1m]

while i will help you fight i fear i must be the voice of reason.... if its going for housing... then it becomes part of a central government target. so its unlikely you will be able to win..

however, i have a suggestion... make an offer that will suit both parties

as the Skylark is fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to kill, injure or take an adult Skylark, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents. The only exception is legitimate farming practices that cannot be reasonably delayed, although farming methods can often be modified to reduce the impact on the Skylarks.

use this to your advantage... begin legal action to prevent the development be recording active nest sites in the area... then if they remove the nests they have broken the law...

however this will not stop them as they will probably start development in the wintertime to avoid damaging nests. in farming, the use of a 20 metre strip of non-rotational set aside planted with native grass. perhaps this could be suggested to the developers that if they were to set aside a small portion of land left un-cut (with instructions to the council not to cut and signs put up to stop those blasted street mowers cutting it back you know those big ones that cut every bit of grass they can get their blades on) if they left this land for the skylarks, that we would not oppose the development and that if they sign an agreement to do this (a legally binding one) then we would not oppose them... failing that we oppose them at every turn, bringing legal action into play every winter time to stop development till the birds nest in spring, which protects them until winter when we launch legal action again... putting off development for at least 3 years before leal action begins to fail, at which point simnply standing in front of the machinery would have an effect...

if you want me to propose this to the developers i need to know which developer it is... i also need you to agree not to oppose them if they agree to the set aside