As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Monday, 6 May 2019

The birdwatcher: Cirl buntings back from the brink


april 6 2019, 12:01am, the times
derwent may
People in Devon and Cornwall are the only ones who can hear cirl buntings singing their spring song. Those are the only counties in Britain in which this attractive hedgerow bird now nests. Until recently Devon was the sole county they bred in, but a conservation team, led by the RSPB and Natural England, has had considerable success in establishing their presence again in Cornwall.
They are quite closely related to yellowhammers (or yellow buntings). They flit along the hedges and sing in small trees, like the yellowhammer. Their song is an unmistakable metallic rattle, slightly reminiscent of the yellowhammer’s slower, more tinkling notes, but without the long wheezing note at the end.

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