The corn bunting, once one of Scotland’s most common birds, is facing extinction north of the Border

The distinctive corn bunting Miliaria calandra, known to farmers as “the fat bird of the barley”, is under threat. The bird was once so widespread it was known as the common bunting and considered an agricultural pest because it ate so much grain. It is now an endangered species in the UK with only 800 pairs in Scotland, concentrated mainly in Aberdeenshire, Angus, Fife and the Uists. In its Scottish “heartland” numbers have fallen by more than 83 per cent over just two decades, since 1989. The study, by RSPB Scotland and the ecologist Dr Adam Watson, published today, covered 3,645 hectares of coastal farmland in eastern Scotland. Corn buntings disappeared from some sites during the study, and one Aberdeenshire population declined by 91 per cent from 134 pairs to just 12. Dr Watson, who monitored the corn bunting population in each year of the 20-year study, said: “When I first studied this population in 1989 it was thriving, and I saw winter flocks hundreds strong. Last summer we only found one pair, which failed to rear any chicks. To me in 2012, the familiar farmlands seem silent and empty. It is tragic.”

Source: Scotsman, 9th August 2012
http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/once-common-corn-bunting-faces…