Rare farmland bird saved from extinction

One of the UK’s rarest and most threatened birds has come back from the brink having achieved almost a six-fold increase in numbers in just 14 years, according to a survey from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

The increase in the population of the rare cirl bunting, a sparrow-sized farmland bird, to almost 700 pairs has bucked the overall downward trend for most farmland birds. Following decades of decline, driven by changes in farming and land use, the bird’s numbers crashed to just 118 pairs in 1989.

The bird is a relative of the more familiar yellowhammer and is confined to south Devon - but formerly the bird ranged more widely across southern Britain.

The joint RSPB and English Nature-funded Cirl Bunting Project was launched to help farmers protect these threatened birds on their land. The key successes of the project have been giving landowners targeted land management advice and helping them apply for Countryside Stewardship funding.

Cath Jeffs, the RSPB’s Exeter-based cirl bunting project officer, said: “The cirl bunting is one of our most attractive birds, but it’s also one of our fussiest. To thrive it needs a supply of large insects in summer and a rich source of seeds over winter. Because cirl buntings don’t migrate these feeding sites need to be in the same areas.

"Sadly, changes in how land is managed, especially the loss of the traditional spring sowing of cereal crops, means that neither of the bunting’s needs were being met and the bird was suffering terribly."

Mark Robins, RSPB senior policy officer, said that there was much to learn from the experience of "this very successful project".

(gmcg)