Wildlife summer 2012

[annew]

Fantastic picture, Peter!

[Paul T]

Very, very, VERY cool, Peter!!

[fredg]

Back from the Northern Country suitably rusted 
Not much chance for photos but I did catch this little fellow walking in through the gate.

I only get to see them up yonder 

[daveyp1970]

Wow Fred a yellowhammer in the garden incredible.

[Maggi Young]

Yellowhammers, Emberiza citrinella are certainly not seen ( or heard) as often nowadays as they used to be. Can't rmemember when I last saw one.....

Fred, were you not supposed to bring the sunshine up here with you??!

[fredg]

Fred, were you not supposed to bring the sunshine up here with you??!

I did Maggi.... it was on Wednesday between 13:01:26 and 13:01:38

Wow Fred a yellowhammer in the garden incredible.

There was a pair and a single male Dave.
The males appeared much yellower than the photo shows, quite brilliant.
I've often seen them in winter, in numbers, but the breeding plummage is much brighter.

[Anthony Darby]

Yellowhammers, Emberiza citrinella are certainly not seen ( or heard) as often nowadays as they used to be. Can't rmemember when I last saw one.....

Fred, were you not supposed to bring the sunshine up here with you??!

They were all shipped to New Zealand!

[Maggi Young]

Fred, were you not supposed to bring the sunshine up here with you??!

I did Maggi.... it was on Wednesday between 13:01:26 and 13:01:38

 Thanks Fred... must have missed it .......I've got a cold and sneezed about then.... always close my eyes when I sneeze...

[TC]

Happily, Yellowhammers are still fairly common in Ayrshire.  We see them on a daily basis when we are out in the countryside.  In January, we often have up to seven coming into the garden to feed.  We are actually more pleased if they do not turn up - this means that there is still food for them on the farmland and hedgerows.
As Anthony says, they seem very common in South Island N.Z. What we noticed was that the birds there seem "bleached" compared to their UK cousins.  In fact, all the UK introduced birds seem " washed - out" in colour.  It seems that the high concentration of UV light may account for this - or maybe because we very rarely see our birds in direct sunlight !!

[arillady]

Lovely bright bird but why Yellowhammer??

[bulborum]

I know only the purple hammer bird 

R

[mark smyth]

Pat if I remember correctly hammer, as in the bird, derived from a German word

[arillady]

thanks Roland for the laugh... hammer is the same in german (just checked my pocket German dictionary.)

[mark smyth]

It's from the German word for buntings - Ammer. Corn bunting, Yellow bunting

[Anthony Darby]

I remember walks with my Grandmother and hearing "a little bit of bread and no cheese". The Oxford Dictionary says the origin of Hammer is uncertain, but it is clearly from the German for bunting. We had one in the garden in February pinching seeds from our sunflowers.