Yellowhammer

The male Yellowhammer (also known as the Yellow Bunting) is one of Britains brightest birds. In spring he has a yellow head and breast, a rich brown streaky back and a plain reddish-brown rump. The female is much duller, with pale yellow below the bill and in front of the eyes, lines of brown along the breast and flanks and two dull wing-bars.

The song is the famous `little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese`, a sound which is heard from late winter into spring. It is repeated monotonously during the breeding season.

The Yellowhammer breeds in areas of grassland and arable fields with hedges and banks, as well as railway embankments, commons and heaths. Outside the breeding season it relies on visiting stubble fields and fields with winter feed crops. It is mainly a seed eater, eating seeds from grasses, nettles, docks and chickweed, but also feeds on insects and other invertebrates such as grasshoppers, sawfly larvae and caterpillars in the summer.

This bird is still relatively common in Britain with over 1 million territories. This figure is falling at a drastic rate though, with the population having fallen by over 50% since 1970. This mirrors the decline of other farmland birds with the same reasons given for the drop in numbers, such as loss of stubble fields in winter, an increase in insecticide and herbicide use and the destruction of hedges.

The photo`s below were taken on a windy day at a place called Northorpe Fen where I found a flock of approximately 150 feeding on spilt grain and taking shelter from the buffeting wind.

All photo`s digiscoped using Lumix FS15 and Kowa TSN-883 x30

Reed Bunting

The archetypal LBJ (Little Brown Job) is the Reed Bunting. About the size of a House Sparrow and at first glance the same look, but on closer inspection this bird is very different. The male in breeding plumage is a stunning bird, with a pure black head and throat and a broad white collar (the photo`s below are of a male in winter, so not quite as fine looking!). They have a habit of perching on branches and `flicking` their tail feathers which in turn shows the white outer tail feathers to good effect.

This is another bird which has suffered due to agricultural intensification and numbers have dropped by over 50% in the last few years. Thankfully the population seems to have now stabilised, albeit at a much lower level.

During the winter we get these little birds visiting our small garden in Peterborough, the highest number being 16 when the really cold weather was here, but come Spring they disperse to their breeding grounds. A bird that my Dad is extremely jealous of us having on our feeders!

Digiscoped using Lumix FS15 and Kowa TSN-883 x30