nrigby
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Re:Could it be a reed bunting? - 2006/11/26 11:28
Here is some information about Reed Buntings from the RSPB...
Reed bunting
Emberiza schoeniclus
Sparrow-sized but slim and with a long, deeply notched tail, the male has a black head, white collar and a drooping moustache. Females and winter males have a streaked head. In flight the tail looks black with broad, white edges. This farmland and wetland bird suffered a serious population decline making it a Red List species.
Where does it live?
Breeding
It favours stands of dense, herbaceous vegetation on waterlogged soils, usually at the water's edge but is now often found in young forestry plantations or overgrown ditches on farmland and even in crops such as oilseed rape and weedy turnip fields.
Wintering
Found in drier habitats - plantation edges, set-aside fields and sometimes in gardens.
Where to see it
Typically found in wet vegetation but has recently spread into farmland and, in winter, into gardens. When singing the male usually perched on top of a bush, or reed.
What does it eat?
Seeds and insects
What does it sound like?
Call a characteristic 'see-oo'; song an unmusical 'tweek tweek tweek tsissick'
When to see it
All year round.
Similar species
Yellowhammer, Lapland bunting
RSPB Reserves where you can see Reed Buntings
Frampton Marsh
Conwy
Lochwinnoch
Mersehead
Sandwell Valley
Rainham, Wennington and Aveley Marshes
Lakenheath Fen
The Oa
Fowlmere
Loch of Kinnordy
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