Birdwatchers favour prime or zoom telephoto lenses to seek out elusive species such as the corncrake or
corn bunting, which remain well camouflaged until the crops are harvested in September.
Under threat (from left):
Corn bunting, grey partridge, willow warbler and willow tit
Species such as the
Corn Bunting, once common along our coast, have become rare as they need winter stubble to thrive.
On Bardsey a
corn bunting was noted, this species being desperately rare in Wales.
The last Irish countryside bird to go extinct was the
corn bunting in the 1980s.
Yet Mr Madge said once-common birds like house sparrow, tree sparrow,
corn bunting and grey partridge are becoming endangered because of changing farming methods.
IN THE West Midlands, as elsewhere in the UK, birds such as the skylark,
corn bunting, lapwing, tree sparrow, and other wildlife, such as the common blue butterfly, are being lost from the countryside at an alarming rate, while the number of people working in farming also continues to plummet.
He found Yellowhammer and
Corn Bunting on breeding territory, yet today
Corn Buntings are not only extinct around Llandudno, but in Wales, and I doubt anyone has heard a Yellowhammer sing on the Creuddyn in recent years.
Latest Government figures show that some farmland bird populations such as grey partridge, tree sparrow, yellowhammer, reed bunting, and
corn bunting are still showing a 70% decline, despite the introduction of agri-environment schemes.
Within minutes the
corn bunting became lunch for the powerful constrictor.
Farmland birds have been hit hard, with the
corn bunting, tree sparrow and yellowhammer all disappearing from a number of areas in Cheshire, and turtle doves now extinct in the county.
Gone completely are: Bittern, Common Gull, Nightingale,
Corn Bunting and Woodlark.
