Page 14 - Aberystwyth EGO April 2021

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Nature Notes

By David Williams

his month last year, I The table feeding happened scribbled. This led to the old names
had a colourful visitor during the nesting period. I think it of scribble lark and writing lark.
on my feeders. It may was either a convenient way to get Eggs usually hatch within a fortnight
Tbe first thought of as a few extra calories while looking of being laid. Both parents feed
an escapee from an aviary but in after the brood or maybe as a ready the chicks which fledge within
fact it's a resident bird known as a supply to pop in to young beaks a fortnight of hatching. For the
yellowhammer. I'd heard it's call of of very demanding chicks. I have a first three days, the chicks are fed
'a little bit of bread but no cheese' feeling that there must have been exclusively on invertebrates before
many times but it was the first time a nest nearby which I didn't know being introduced to grain. Grain
it had regularly visited the feeders. about. The main breeding season is their main food as an adult. My
It must have felt that the pickings is between April and May. Before photograph was taken in early April
here were a lot easier than trying to the eggs are laid the female builds so there was either an early brood
find all of its food from wild sources. her nest. The nest is usually near or it was during incubation. It was a
They usually feed on the ground the ground and is well concealed. male who visited.
but this one was interested in the This made me wonder if it was in The yellowhammer is part of the
pickings on the bird table. They like the scrub near to the feeders. The bunting family. Its name comes
starchy seeds, so my wild bird seed three to five eggs have a creamy from the German word for bunting
mix was just right for that extra white colouring over which fine – ammer. It has been paired with
snack. black markings look to have been the colour yellow to create our

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