Wood Larks breed across Europe, from the Mediterranean north to southern Fenno-Scandia and eastward to central Russia, also in North Africa, Asia Minor and the Levant eastward to Iran and southern Turkmenistan. They winter in the south and west of this area, migrating north to breed.
    In Great Britain their numbers have fluctuated: they were widespread throughout England and Wales in the early 19th century, then their numbers declined between 1850 and 1920, rose again until about 1950, then declined in the second half of the 20th century century, before starting to rise again in the 1990s. Between 1997 and 2006 they expanded their range by 46% and their population increasedby 88%. In England they breed mostly south of a line from Devon to north Norfolk, with a scattering found in the midlands and as far north as Yorkshire. They mostly winter near their breeding areas, with the result that their winter and summer distribution maps are broadly similar.
    In Wiltshire in the 19th century, Wood Larks were uncommon, but occasionally recorded throughout the county, a situation that continued until well into the 20th century. There were no confirmed breeding records between1962 and 1998 but thereafter there have been occasional reports of nesting, mostly near the Hampshire border. Similarly, most winter sightings occur in areas near to Hampshire breeding areas.

References
The following references are used throughout these species accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976:  The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986:  The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007 : Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
Bird Atlas 2007-2011” – Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.