On our last volunteer day before Christmas David, Steve, Bill, Dave and I were back on the Powderham Reserve hedgelaying. This is a continuation of a programme of work that was started last winter to create a habitat to attract cirl buntings. This little bird is a relative of the yellowhammer and is now very scarce in the UK and is restricted to South Devon and Cornwall only. Cirl buntings can be seen in the nearby village of Exminster but, as a home loving bird that does not like to travel far, sightings remain non-existent on the reserve.
So, how do we create a home for cirl buntings? Cirls like to nest and shelter in hedges and bramble. They eat and feed their young on grasshoppers and other insects they find in grassy field edges. In the winter when food is scarce they rely on the seeds in the winter stubble left by that year's crops. They are also seen in gardens or around garden centres where bird feeders provide a source of food in the winter months. The reasons why cirls have been declining are because the practise of hedgelaying has declined, field margins have shrunk to maximise crop production and farmers plough their fields in autumn thus depriving the cirls of their winter store of seeds and grain.On the RSPB Powderham Reserve we have been recreating their preferred habitat by renovating hedge banks and hedges. We have cleared field edges of some of the bramble to create grassy areas where grasshoppers can thrive. The planting and harvesting of the spring barley in the field is managed in accordance with the feeding requirements of the birds.
This is a long term project and the gaps on the hedge banks need to be filled. It will take the planted trees five or six years to grow big enough to be laid. The Topsham Rainbows and their families braved the weather one Sunday to help us out . They brought some small trees with them and did a brilliant job of planting them along the hedge bank. We now look forward to them growing big and strong so that one day they will form part of a hedge that cirl buntings are nesting in.
If you'd like to see cirl buntings then visit the RSPB's Labrador Bay Reserve just outside Shaldon.
As well as managing their own nature reserves the RSPB works closely with farmers to create habitats for cirls and other farmland birds. See here for more information about the RSPB's cirl bunting activities.