Author: Emily Kench. This blog post originally appeared as a feature in the Eastern Daily Press Weekend magazine on 10 June 2017.
It’s hard to avoid the media’s perception of a perfect body these days. Whether it is Myleene Klass taking a dip in the jungle, or Peter Andre baring all in a calendar – the concept of a flawless body is everywhere.
Luckily nature is largely unaffected by our crazy quirks, and stays... well just as nature had intended. Despite being associated with the descriptions: stout, dumpy, heavily built, and known in some areas as the ‘fat bird of barley,’ the corn bunting is still able to embrace its physique and even its name. Originally, ‘bunting’ was used to describe a plump or thickset person, and the corn bunting truly lives up to this as the largest of the buntings.
Photo credit: Andy Hay
It may therefore be a surprise to hear that the movement of this bird has been defined as fluttering flight, suggesting elegance, subtlety, and glamour. See this bird take-off though and you will soon realise it’s anything but. Yellow legs dangle from a streaky body that merges into a large head and stubby bill, defying aerodynamics. The song that accompanies the flight also lacks sophistication with likening to ‘jangling keys’.
However, the corn bunting proves that good looks are low on the priority list in nature, and superficiality has no place. Whilst the bird may be dull in appearance, it has a rather colourful sex life. Male corn buntings are highly promiscuous, mating and breeding with up to 18 females (6 simultaneously!) over the course of the summer, which makes it even more worrying that these underrated birds are on the decline, in spite of such heroic efforts.
In recent decades, the sight of a corn bunting in lowland farmland, perched on a post or wire was far from out-of-the-ordinary. Yet, since 1970, the species has declined by a shocking 90%; the corn bunting is in trouble.
For many years, the production of cereal crops allowed the corn bunting to thrive but lately, with growing demand for food, farming has intensified. Changes in the production of cereal crops - the timings of harvesting and changes to crop species – as well as the removal of hedgerows to make space for more crops, has led to this decrease in available winter foods and habitats. An increase in the volume of pesticides used also leaves less insects for chicks and seeds for adults in the summer months.
Still, like with so many of our other farmland species in decline, we should not lose hope! Trends can be reversed and we can offer wildlife a home alongside farming. In principle, farmland birds are quite low maintenance really and only have three main needs to survive and flourish: a safe place to nest; food in spring and summer for their chicks; and food and shelter over winter.
At RSPB Hope Farm – our 181-hectare arable farm in Cambridgeshire – we have implemented the ‘big three’ and once lost bird species have begun to thrive. Since the RSPB’s purchase in2000: skylarks quadrupled, linnets quintupled, yellowhammers doubled, lapwings, yellow wagtail and grey partridge have all colonised the farm. Overall key breeding bird populations increased by 190%. The fat bird of barley had other plans though and teased staff for 16 years despite honing territories just 5 miles down the road.
Finally, back in the summer of 2016, the corn bunting, didn’t just make an appearance, it put on a show. RSPB researchers found a corn bunting nest on the farm with four eggs in it; three of these went on to hatch and two chicks fledged! With this successful breeding and with at least one, and possibly two, other singing corn buntings on the farm we are optimistic for the future.
Patience really is a virtue.
A list of the available RSPB member packages could be found here: www.rspb.org.uk/join
List of activities to follow in order to give nature home in your garden could be found here: www.rspb.org.uk/myplan