Skylarks change their tune for frosty dogfight

Sandy, Bedfordshire The birds' summer song has become a spit of rage, broken chirrups rendered to our ears as "get lost!"

The skylark's summer song is reduced in winter to spits of rage, each broken chirrup rendered to human ears as "get lost!" or something far ruder. Such angry chatter broke the stillness of a recent frost-becalmed morning in the fields. The strident cries told of an aerial dogfight.

Related: David Adam on the decline of Britain's skylarks and other bird species