It is a strange feeling to go on a winter’s walk and come back thinking of canaries, but this is what happened on Sunday. Yellowhammers are the closest thing South Shropshire has to canaries and when a small flock bursts out of the hedgerow like dashes of sunlight, they look wonderfully exotic. In the wake of a recent report that many farmland birds are declining due to more intensive agricultural methods, we’re lucky that Shropshire ’s fields, which still have many hedges and oak trees, are still a safe haven for these little buntings.
The Yellowhammer’s plumage is brighter in winter than in summer. They often catch your eye as you drive along country lanes: a splash of yellow in a bare winter hedge. Like with many birds, however, there is a difference between seeing them and watching them. On a winter walk you may see them picking up seeds missed by the farmer. And as they’re incredibly social birds you’re equally likely to see a group. Through binoculars you can pick out their long, black tail and rufous, streaky back as well as their dazzling yellow head as they turn to the late afternoon sun to sing.
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