Yellowhammer Emberiza citronella
This little golden yellow hedgerow bird has a distinctive song, and is likely to be seen around the Breckland heaths during spring and summer.
Conservation status in Norfolk
Yellowhammers have declined by more than 50% nationally in the past 20 years with their populations described as ‘dropping like a stone’ during the 1990s (Mead C, 2000).
How to help
Yellowhammers are hedgerow birds and planting new hedgerows or protecting existing hedgerows adjacent to farmland will help this species
Wildstock
Information on the Yellowhammer
How to recognise
The male’s bright, golden yellow head and breast together with his repetitive ‘little bit of bread and no cheese’ song is very distinctive. The female is a duller streaky-brown on the breast and has a more sombre yellow head and breast than the male.
Where to see
Look for yellowhammers on commons, heathlands and farmland. Old railway embankments covered with scrub and gorse are favoured haunts.
When to see
The Breckland heaths are good places to look for yellowhammers in spring and summer. In April (?) 3-5 eggs are laid by the female in a nest hidden in long grass or low down in a hedge or bush, second broods in the summer are not uncommon. In winter yellowhammers may be found mixed with flocks of chaffinches, bramblings, linnets and goldfinches.
Did you know?
Traditionally yellowhammers in Breckland were known as gulers – a name thought to be derived from Gulden, a gold coin of Germany and the Netherlands
Related questions
Surveying hedgerows – How do I find out what wildlife is found in our hedgerow?
It should not be underestimated how important hedgerows are for many different species of wildlife. Wildlife that once lived in the woodland that covered much of Britain has now been pushed into these far more linear habitats.
In the UK over 1,500 species of insect, 65 species of bird and 20 species of mammal have been recorded living in hedgerows. Several declining bird species, including yellowhammer, corn bunting, tree sparrow and turtle dove, nest in or close to Norfolk's hedges.
These linear habitats are a valuable source of food for many animals and act as wildlife 'corridors', allowing animals to travel from one habitat to another. Once you have begun surveying hedgerows in general (survey form q) you may like to have a go at surveying butterflies, mammals or birds found along your hedgerow.