Snow buntings, that is. A little flock of these rather attractive birds has, in the past few days, been wowing visitors to the reserve.
Snow buntings are winter visitors to the UK, with a few staying all year round up in the Cairngorms. I have seen them cadging crumbs under picnic tables at the ski centre on top of Cairngorm in summer. Just like you might see sparrows elsewhere. These are very much arctic birds, breeding right around the Arctic Circle. In winter they escape the harsher weather by moving to our warmer shores, staying in Scotland, north wales, northern England and down the east coast as far as Kent.
Slightly bigger than chaffinches, snow buntings are quite stocky little characters. In their breeding colours, males are a striking black and white. At this time of year though they are closer in appearance to the females. sandy browns and greys, with pure white underparts. This is a really good way not only to tell them apart from other buntings, but also to spot them. Feeding on the ground they do blend in very well with vegetation. but as soon as they take to the air, they shine out brightly, making them relatively easy to spot.
Male snow bunting by Neil Smith
Over the last few days, a small flock of maybe 20 or so birds have been on the reserve. usually moving between the scrapes and the reedbed, where they look for grass seeds on the islands and grassy banks. They are a real herald of winter for us, telling us that Christmas is only just around the corner (Yikes! Better get on with the shopping. Maybe a trip to Titchwell...). Best of all, the flock has taken to feeding right in front of the visitor centre, giving some great views through the telescopes there.
Requiring cold areas such as the tops of Scottish mountains and the arctic, global warming is something of a threat to the snow bunting. Particularly for that small Scottish population. With increasing temperatures, the mountain tops will get warmer, and with nowhere else to go potentially we could lose snow buntings as a British breeding species. Wintering numbers may also be affected. So lets keep these lovely little birds and watch that carbon footprint!
Reedbed, freshwater scrapes, saltmarsh and wet meadow. Frampton Marsh has it all! Come and pay us a visit soon.