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Reed Bunting (Emberiza Schoeniculus)
Overview
The Reed Bunting has suffered a serious decline in the last few decades due to intensive agriculture and lack of wetland habitat. This bird is small sparrow sized and similar in looks with the male having a black head white collar and drooping moustache.
Description
Similar in size to a sparrow the male bird is quite distinctive with a black head and white neck collar and a black moustache under his beak. The female is less distinctive with a dull brown head with a pale stripe below the cheeks. Both have a pale breast and darker upper body and wings.
Distribution
Throughout the UK.
Habitat
They are most commonly seen in wet areas where there are plenty of reeds for them to cling onto. They have recently colanised drier habitats and especially enjoys nesting in oils seed rape crops.
Breeding
It’s the female that weaves an untidy nest from grasses and reeds. They are lined with hair finer grass and willow fluff. The nest tends to be low down near to water among reed stems or in grassy clumps or even in amongst nettles.
Food
They like to eat seed and grain. They will go into gardens and take seed from underneath feeders. We have seen them most commonly eating wheat, red and white millet. They enjoy eating insects in the summer months.
Population Trends
The Reed Bunting is on the RSPB’s red list for species in danger as they have seen a big population decrease since the 1970’s. There are currently around 200,000 territories in the UK
