The Yellowhammer problem

The Yellowhammer is one of the farmland species that is not doing too well. It has been in steady decline for about the last 40 years. One of the main reasons seems to be the lack of winter seeds available. Fields are cleared and replanted almost immediately, and fallow or stubble fields seldom seen. In the village there is a horse manure dump, and this can provide some good food at times when in the right conditions. Today, with my new walking partner Betty, I waked along Collingwood Road, but there was a tractor and trailer bringing a load from the stables and consequently no birds were around. We took the foot path back towards St Vincent Road on the return route and I was surprised to see quitter a large flock of birds feeding n the large field. The area hadn’t been cleared or replanted and a lot of dead vegetation was on the fallow field, making good conditions for seed eaters. The curve on the field, humps and bumps and depth of the vegetation made it quite difficult to count the birds on the ground, but as they flew around I was able to get some idea of the numbers. There was a minimum of 50 Yellowhammers, and a few each of Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches and Pied Wagtails. Disappointingly I didn’t find any Corn Buntings.

Yellowhammer at the manure dump an a previous visit.

Fallow Field

Suitable feeding for finches and buntings

birds scattered in the feeding area.

 Feeding Yellowhammer

feeding Yellowhammer

A delicacy on the Cliff Top

This afternoon I received news that an Ortolan Bunting had been seen at Langdon this morning. Several hours had passed and I thought the likelihood of finding it again small.

I arrived around 3.30 pm and after tramping around the area for  while  I was lucky enough to bump into Nigel Jarman who was armed with a bit more information. It had been seen with a small group of Yellowhammers in the Harbour Field. We continued to look for the bunting but after walking from one end of the field to the other we still hadn't encountered any encouraging feeding groups. As I searched a stubble field I flushed a single Yellowhammer, but a couple of hundred yards away Nigel was signalling. He'd found a small group of Yellowhammers and with them was the Ortolan. It was a generous beast that gave itself up easily. It was a Kent tick for me, although a second for Nigel.

As we watched the birds the Ortolan helpfully remained in full view showing off the distinctive submoustachial and malar stripes.

From behind it looked very much like most buntings, however the pattern on the tertials is quite interesting. I think that the bird is probably a first winter bird, and the pattern of the median coverts and tertials may be definitive.

The Ortolan was for a long time an expensive delicacy served in French restaurants. Ortolan hunting was banned in France in 1999, but the law was poorly enforced and it is thought that up to 50,000 ortolans were killed each year. In 2007, the pressure from France's League for Protection of Birds and from the European Union resulted in the French government promising to enforce the EU directive protecting the ortolan.

The Guardian, yesterday reported that top Parisian chefs were again lobbying their government to allow Ortolans to be served one day or one weekend a year. Although hunting doe have an adverse affect on the population the main reason for the decline in numbers of this species is probably due to agricultural changes from small mixed farms to greater intensification. This is parallelled in the UK with the decline of the Corn Bunting. No wonder this beautiful bunting has become harder and harder to see in to UK.

The group of buntings did drop to the ground to feed,  where the grass was long they remained difficult to see, but when they were in more open areas were were able to watch the Ortolan sifting through the grass seeds.

Back on one of the bushes it seemed rather startled when it was joined by two Yellowhammers.

with the Yellowhammer for comparison the Ortolan looked marginally smaller, and the buffish-pink bill is rather longer.

Wallfowers on the Cliff

Another beautiful morning and I decided on a gentle walk from the house to Bockhill and the cliffs. 

Wallflowers, a long naturalised plant, decorate the cliff top and nooks and crannies on the cliff face.

Fulmars are a favourite of mine that nests along the cliffs. Today in the gentle breeze and quiet conditions their calls rang out as they established their territories on the cliff.

Looking along the cliff from a good vantage point I was struck by the different colours that section of the chalk face showed. The freshest white areas are where the lastest falls occurred and the darkest, the areas longest exposed to the elements. Look carefully and there is a perched Peregrine almost dead centre.

One of the most uplifting sounds of the day came from a Corn Bunting singing from the fence running along the side of the big field.

I remember reading some research several years (perhaps decades) ago, that postulated that the removal of hedgerows also removed song posts for Corn Buntings and although they didn't use the hedges for nesting this loss of song posts had exacerbated their decline. Since then I have seen and heard them singing from near the ground in growing crops, but now it seems this rather functional fence will have a second purpose for the the Buntings.

At one place i found a position where I could watch a pair of Fulmars billing and cooing.

Other birds were still patrolling the cliffs, wheeling round on their stiff wings.

The pair I was watching were not too pleased when these flying birds approached too close.

A large throat for some nice large fish bits.

The large flock of Linnets is still around and feeding on the rough ground near the cliff. I estimated that there were close to 200 today. Guess at the number above and then count them, you will be surprised how many there are.

As I was watching over the cliff I became aware of a second pair, almost below me, but seemingly oblivious to my presence.

Here you can the two pairs, one low down at the bottom and one at the top of the cliff.

Walking back I watched two Corn Bunting chasing each other, round in circles, for a couple of minutes. When they finally settled down in one of the cliff top bushes they joined others already there and I was pleased to see a group of five together.

Perhaps even more pleasing was the group of Yellowhammers feeding along the cliff top. I was surprised to eventually manage to count twenty birds. I think that this is the highest count I've had a Bockhill, although I have seen a bigger flock a few years ago, near the "three sisters (now two) on the Dover side of the village.