On Sunday, Sally and I went out for a few hours in search of yellow wagtail and corn bunting. Both have “Red” status as they are in decline as breeding birds. A population of corn buntings has been breeding near where we live for many many years – one particular pylon has been a favourite singing post for males for at least 35 years! I am not so sure about the history of breeding yellow wagtails in our area but a few years ago a neighbour tipped us off about some local breeding birds. Yellow wagtails are a particular favourite and I can still remember seeing our first male bird, many years ago, on Higham Marsh. So each year now, we make several short trips to see if we can find evidence of local breeding for either of these species.
And yesterday it worked! At least 3 singing male corn buntings (sounding great with my new hearing aids) and 3 yellow wagtails (one of these may have been a fledgling – too distant to be sure). So they are back – in just a few fields, in nothing special and more or less unnoticed. We hope to go to Elmley National Nature Reserve soon, and we may see corn bunting and yellow wagtails on the drive in. But to get there we will drive past “our” birds”.
Thanks to Sally for the photographs.
Malcolm