As we sat under a hawthorn this week a bird moved up the far side of the bush sat atop and sang his heart out. A repeated ‘A little bit of bread and no cheeeeeeze” was the signature tune of this Yellow Bunting.
This is a farmland species that is not as common as it once was, but still has a reasonable representation in Norfolk.
Letter From Norfolk 
Carl, I can remember seeing yellow hammers on the top of every bramble at the back of the pines at wells, similarly up cuckoo lodge on Market Lane at wells, their nests were hard to find due to them nesting deep in thorns but still we knew where they all were. Market lane till recently remained the same, as have the brambles at wells woods, which was also a dead cert for spotted flycatchers on a regular walk. These locations haven’t changed so much yet these birds are still so hard to see now.
Such is my love for yellow buntings I kept and bred these for many years. To wake up in a village in Lancashire listening to that call was a privilege and a pleasure!
Sent from my iPad
Thanks John. Good to hear from you.
Bizarrely enough I have been waking up to the song of Yellowhammers in the last couple of weeks. One is singing from the Sycamores at the top of the garden each morning – lovely!