Reed Bunting

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

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.