Corn Buntings in Cornwall (1 Viewer)

Here is a transcript of a short news film transmitted on Carlton TV tonight in the Westcountry region:


The Corn Bunting was once an important part of country
life in the Westcountry, but there's none left in Devon and only fifty pairs surviving in Cornwall.

Now the fight is on to try to save that tiny population. As our
Environment Correspondent Jo Cole reports, their future lies in the hands of farmers who are being helped with Government funding. What a difference a couple of decades makes - particularly to our wildlife.

CHARLIE WATSON SMYTH: "Twenty years ago exactly we were being filmed almost exactly in this field by a fertiliser company where we had trials on how we could produce as much as we possibly could right up to the edge and we didn't care about wildlife at all because that's not what we were being paid to do". Today it's still a commercial arable farm, but
wildlife is being given a new chance.

GEORGE BREW, Countryside Stewardship scheme: "This is a fine example of an arable margin which is excellent for the corn bunting and other birds. It's without fertiliser, without sprays and it's adjacent to the crop".

What they're trying to save here is the Corn Bunting. There's only a hundred or so left in Cornwall, most of them in this area.

CLAIRE MUCKLOW RSPB: "You can still find them in reasonable numbers in Wiltshire and Dorset there are none in Devon but in Cornwall we still have this small population left and it's very important that we try and save them".

This farm is helping to steady that precarious population and now
others are coming on board to help give them enough habitat to increase. Saving birds like the corn bunting is now a viable proposition thanks to changes in attitude and the way farming is funded. Jo Cole near Padstow for Westcountry News.

If anyone from Devon or Cornwall wants to go and see them, they're at Pentire Farm near Polruan. Park in the farm yard (it's an NT property) and head out towards Pentire Point. The birds sing from the hedges. It's a well known site so I'm not giving anything away.

interestingly we have a single male at Rame Head - he's been there for about four years now and has been singing his head off every year without attracting a mate. Trouble is - he's been on his own so long he's started to sing like a Yellowhammer!

Darrell

Darrell, That is exactly where we saw some last year. Pentire Head is also a wonderful place for many other birds especially unbelievably huge flocks of Goldfinches feeding on thistle heads! I loved this place and was baffled by two Rooks with some whites on their wings.