This month I am taking part in a month of drawing, posting images every day. Today's studies are of two different angles of a bird's skull. I was really trying to depict a close and true study of the bird's cranium, beak and orbitals, along with the vertebrae and several rib parts.

I found this little bird one day lying on the mountain path, on the way back home. It wasn't there when we set out, so it must have recently fallen out of the sky. There was no sign of attack, but it was a very hot day. I took the body home and tried to draw it (lower sketch). I then put the bird under a plant pot to wait for it to decompose, so that I could draw the skeleton.

It was such a young bird that heavy rain damaged much of the body, leaving only the skull and part of the backbone. That's what I've drawn for today's picture.

I have also included a photograph of the bird. At first I thought it was a house martin, but the olive-green colour with a white front does not seem to match, and I have been unable to find another match using the RSPB's bird identifier tool. So if anyone has any idea of what species of bird this is, please let me know!