Corn Bunting © Ray Scally
Corn Bunting was recorded in winter in only 16 tetrads. They are thought to be largely resident – nationally, the median distance of movement for ringed birds is just 4 km (Migration Atlas) – so it is intriguing that 7 of the winter tetrads did not have breeding season records, and indeed that 27 of those with breeding evidence did not have birds observed in winter. These observations probably support the notion that there is some short-distance dispersal in winter, with birds returning to the vicinity of their natal areas to breed. They can be an unobtrusive bird in winter, often feeding on the ground in the company of other species, so might have been overlooked in some sites, but some birds reveal themselves by singing occasionally on bright days.
The BTO’s winter Corn Bunting survey, in 1992/93, showed that weedy stubble fields were by far the most important feeding habitat during the winter (Donald & Evans 1994), although other habitats, including grassland and saltmarsh, held almost half of the flocks found. They avoid improved grassland and winter cereals. In this survey, observers recorded 20 habitat codes for wintering Corn Buntings: 4 including tilled land (E3/ E4), 5 on improved grassland, one on the Dee saltmarsh and only 3 on E7 (stubble). The area of winter stubbles has been greatly reduced in recent decades due to the switch from spring-sown to autumn-sown cereals, the decline in mixed farming and the disappearance of undersowing. In addition, increased herbicide and fertiliser use has reduced the abundance of wildflower seeds. Loss of winter food is likely to be a key factor in the species’ population decline, probably through reducing survival rates (as with Reed Bunting), but the direct evidence is lacking for Corn Bunting as not enough of them are ringed.
As with all seed-eaters, they join into flocks in winter, although in the 1992/ 93 BTO survey the most common ‘flock’ size was just two birds. Most of the flocks recorded were in single figures, and less than 5% exceeded 60. In Cheshire, double-figure flocks are scarce enough to be listed in the annual bird reports: the only such counts during this Atlas period were in the Risley area, about ten birds in a stubble field on 24 November 2004 in SJ69S and 31 in improved grassland in SJ69Q during 2006/ 07.
Corn Buntings also form communal winter roosts, travelling up to 4 km from their feeding sites to roost in reedbeds or occasionally in scrub or on the ground. The only roost recorded during this survey was at Hale, Widnes (SJ48R), with eleven roosting in phragmites on 21 December 2004.
Not much is on record about the former winter status of Corn Bunting in the county. Coward (1900) said that it was ‘seldom met with in winter’, and Brockholes (1874) considered it absent from Wirral at that season. It may have been overlooked, but there are suggestions that the species used to undertake more winter dispersal. Boyd (1951) noted its ‘singularly local distribution’ and knew it from nowhere within twelve miles of his home near Great Budworth. He commented on the inappropriateness of its name of ‘Common Bunting’, still in use in the 1930s, as it is the least common of the three British buntings.
Sponsored by Jean Bulmer
