Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Cirl Bunting
Scientific Name:
Emberiza cirlus
Common Family:
Emberizidae
Length:
16cm
Wingspan (mm):
24cm Description
The male has a bright yellow head, with a black crown, eyestripe and throat, and a greenish breast band across its otherwise yellow underparts, and a heavily streaked brown back. The female is much more like the Yellowhammer, but has a streaked grey-brown rump and chestnut shoulders.
Distribution
Confined to south-west England. Best looked for in fields and hedges of south Devon, near to the coast.
Labrador Bay
Location: approximately four miles south of Teignmouth.
Best time: winter, but present all year round.
Terrain: Undulating mixed farm. Some of the paths away from the car park are quite demanding.
Cirl buntings may be encountered across the reserve however, they are often to be seen and hear in the car park area and can be viewed in the hedge surrounding the car park.
Habitat
l farmland habitat is a mixture of grass and arable fields, divided by thick hedgerows with pockets of dense scrub.[3]. They can tolerate a certain degree of urbanisation, and are found in green spaces in towns and cities.
Diet
Seeds, esp grass, cereals, invertebrates in summer.In the summer their natural food consists of invertebrates for example grasshoppers and crickets to feed their chicks. In the winter they feed on small seeds from Over-wintered stubbles, fallow land,
Reproduction
The nest is on the ground, within dense cover such as that provided by thick hedgerows and scrub. The ideal scrub is said to be blackthorn, hawthorn, bramble and gorse. The breeding season runs from April until mid-September, potentially having 3 broods in total. They are sedentary in nature and will often travel only 250m from their nests to forage in summer, and up to 2 km in winter to find stubbles.
2-5 eggs are laid, which show the hair-like markings characteristic of those of buntings.
Population
886 pairs in Devon
Did You Know?
This species is specially protected by Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended). This legislation protects Cirl Bunting from nest destruction, killing or injuring but also disturbance while breeding.