Come to my bit of north Cornwall and you'll hear skylarks singing all through spring on the coast path. They have declined severely nationally due to the vandalistic depredations of intensive farming. Skylarks need grassland of a certain height for breeding, not too tall, not too short. The modern trend towards winter wheat and barley is devastating, as the crop is too tall by breeding time. The old way, spring-sown cereals, was ideal for them as the crop was just the right height by breeding time. Intensive early grazing of pasture, another modern trend, makes the grass too short for them, and we all know what's happened to those lovely hay meadows, almost all ploughed up. Ploughing in stubble is very bad for them too, what should be a vital winter resource. The National Trust farms much of the clifftop land around here, less intensively than normal in most cases, so the song of the lark is still a constant springtime companion hereabouts.