buntings

Cirl Bunting

Saltlane

The shy Cirl Bunting likes to be warm and is localised to Devon and Cornwall. The village of Stokeinteignhead in Devon is so proud of them it has one as its mascot. Cirl Buntings are usually found amongst the vineyards of the Mediterranean and spend a lot of their time shuffling about on the ground or perched in bushes. They have only recently arrived here, colonising southern Britain from the 1800s.

The Cirl Bunting is smaller than a Yellowhammer but just as yellow with a flat-looking head, a striking black chin and eye stripe, a black crown, yellow underparts, streaked sides and an olive-coloured rump. There is a greenish band on the chest. The female and youngsters are paler, with a grey rump. Their song is a high-pitched, rattling trill of a single "ink", similar to the start of a Yellowhammer's song, and delivered from a song post.

Cirl Buntings feed mainly on seeds like chickweed and nettle and some insects like grasshoppers and crickets.

They form monogamous pairs in April and the female builds a bulky cup-shaped nest hidden in dense vegetation like bramble. It is made from grass and lined with softer material. Mum incubates the 3-4 eggs which hatch after 12 days. Both parents feed the young, who can fly after 11 days and become fully independent 12 days later. The youngsters can breed themselves by the following year. Mum and dad usually have two broods and sometimes even three.

Its small range and population size means the Cirl Bunting has been on the Red List since 1996. After 25 years of conservation effort, numbers have reached 1,000 pairs from just 118 in the 1980s. Most of their decline was due to loss of habitat when farming practices changed. Farmers are now encouraged to leave stubble overwinter and delay ploughing until the end of March. This allows the Cirl Buntings to feed over the winter on the spilt grain and on the seeds of broad-leaved arable weeds like fat hen and chickweed.

The Cirl Bunting's Latin name is 'emberiza cirlus' where 'emberzia' is from the Old German 'embritz' for a bunting and 'cirlus' is from a local Italian name 'cirlo', also for a bunting, from 'zirlare' meaning 'to chirp'. The English Cirl is also derived from 'cirlus'.

Corn Bunting

Saltlane

The Corn Bunting is a large bunting of the open country. It was once widely seen and was even historically known as the 'Common Bunting'. The best way to find them is from their jangling keys song. In the winter, they will join mixed flocks of buntings, finches and sparrows to forage on farmland. Sadly, like so many birds, they have declined steeply with changes in farming.

Corn Buntings are unusual in that both the male and female look alike, with the male being 20% bigger. They have heavily streaked buff-brown bodies, similar to a Skylark, pale underparts and a noticeable dark eye. The streaks on the breast form a noticeable dark patch. The thick bill is yellowish and they dangle their legs during their fluttering flight. Their song is a repetitive metallic jangle usually sung from a post or bush.

They eat mainly seeds, especially barley, but also include insects such as crickets, spiders, caterpillars, slugs and worms when feeding their young.

A male Corn Bunting defends his territory in the breeding season and may attract up to three nesting females. He is so busy looking after his area that he does little parenting, leaving it mainly to the ladies, who build the grass nests and each incubate 3-5 eggs. The more females he has, the longer he will sing, to show what a man he is. The eggs hatch after 14 days and the youngsters leave the nest 12 days later to hide in nearby vegetation until they can fly.

There are about 11,000 Corn Bunting territories in Britain. Numbers declined greatly in northwest Europe due to intensive agricultural practices reducing the food supply of weed seeds and insects. It is Red Listed, though environmental stewardship schemes are slowly helping their recovery. Corn Buntings are sedentary and males who are just 30km apart can sing with different 'dialects'.

Their Latin name is 'emberiza calandra' where 'emberiza' is from Old German 'embritz' for 'bunting' and 'calandra' is from Ancient Greek 'kalandros' for 'lark'. The English name comes from its love of seeds. The Corn Bunting is also sometimes affectionately known as the 'Corn Dumpling', as the male lacks the showy colouring of other Buntings.

Reed Bunting

Saltlane

The Reed Bunting is one of the few wetland birds that didn't decline when reedbeds were drained. It simply moved to drier areas and nobody knows why. The male Reed Bunting is a dapper fellow with a jet-black head and white moustache, often singing his "zinc zinc zinc zonk" song from a prominent perch, like someone learning to count from one to four.

The Reed Bunting is sparrow-sized, but slimmer, with a long, deeply notched tail. The male has a black head, a white collar and his all-important drooping white moustache. Females, winter males and youngsters have streaked heads. In flight, the tail looks black with broad, white edges. They have stubby seed eater bills and dull wing bars.

Although Reed Buntings will eat insects, their chief food is seeds and they are often seen feasting on seed heads. Reed Buntings will also visit garden bird tables for seeds, especially in cold winters.

Nesting starts in April and finishes in late August. The nest is built amongst the ground vegetation by mum, usually near water, but it can also be on an arable field, especially oilseed rape. It is made from grass and moss and then lined with finer material. The 4-5 olive-grey eggs hatch after 13 days and both proud parents feed the young. If a predator comes near the nest, mum and dad will feign injury in an attempt to draw the predator away from where the nest is hidden. The youngsters can fly after a further 10 days which gives time to have 2 or 3 broods. Mum and dad do their moult between July and November once they have finished raising the kids. They do a second moult between March and May when dad gets his dapper black head.

Reed Buntings mostly stay put, but some move southwards or to lowland areas in autumn. A few from northern Europe arrive to overwinter here too. They form winter flocks with other finches and buntings. There are about 250,000 pairs in Britain and the population is stable.

Their Latin name is 'emberiza schoeniclus' where 'emberiza' is from the Old German 'embritz' for a bunting. The 'schoeniclus' is derived from the Ancient Greek 'skhoiniklos' for an unknown waterside bird. The 'emberizidae' bird family contains around 300 seed-eating species, the majority of which are found in the Americas. Our Reed Bunting is most closely related to the Japanese Reed Bunting and the Pallas's Reed Bunting. The English name is from where it is mainly found. Another name is the 'reed sparrow'.

Yellowhammer

Saltlane

Like the Yellow Wagtail, the Yellowhammer is, how shall we put it, yellow! He is high-vis, although a bit grubbier from lots of hedgerow work and having so many wild fondue parties. Once you locate him from his "a little bit of bread and no cheese" song, you will wonder how you ever missed something with such a bright yellow head. He has inspired poems by Robbie Burns and John Clare, and his cheese song has even influenced musical works by Beethoven and Messiaen.

The Yellowhammer is slightly larger than a house sparrow. The male has a bright yellow breast and head with some streaky blackish lines. The back is a rich streaked brown with a chestnut rump and a longish forked tail. The female is less yellow and more stripy. In winter, the yellow becomes more obscured by green brown streaks, making it blend in more with other winter birds and much harder to spot.

The Yellowhammer just loves to sing about how much he likes cheese, standing proudly upright and banging on about it. Despite the song, he is more of a seed eater, feeding mainly on the ground, with the odd insect thrown in during the summer.

The Yellowhammer has 2 to 3 broods between April and September. The female builds a nest close to the ground from grass, plant stems and moss. She sits on the 3-5 eggs while the male sings from the hedge top about how proud he is and let's have a cheese party. The eggs are patterned with a mesh of fine dark lines, giving rise to the old name for the Yellowhammer of "scribble lark" or "writing lark". The eggs hatch after 13 days and the youngsters are cared for by both parents. They can fly 11 days later. The boy birds learn the family cheesy song from their fathers as Yellowhammers have their own regional dialects. The songs are similar but end with minor differences. The girl birds fancy the boys that share their dialect and enjoy the same local dairy produce.

Yellowhammers love open countryside with bushes and trees. There are about a million territories throughout Britain, though these have declined a lot in recent years. The decline is thought to be due to more efficient farming and reduced availability of seed rich stubble fields in winter. The Yellowhammer is resident all year and seldom moves far. They form loose flocks in winter with other buntings, finches and sparrows. The oldest recorded bird was 11 years old, which shows there is no harm in a nice bit of Wensleydale.

Their Latin name is 'emberiza citrinella' where 'emberiza' is derived from the Old German 'Embritz' for bunting and 'citrinella' is the Italian for a small yellow bird (as opposed to citronella which is the stinky stuff in candles and 'stinky bunting' wouldn't be a good name at all). The English name is thought to have come from 'Ammer', another German word for a bunting.