Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus

Reed Buntings are quite small slim birds with a long, deeply notched tail. In flight the tail looks black with broad white edges. The male has a black head with a white collar. The female has broad blackish stripes on the throat, dark brown cheeks and nape with a grey tone to the neck. The upper parts of both sexes are red/brown with darker streaking. The underparts are cream to white with thin brown stripes.

Reed Buntings usually inhabit reedbeds and other wetland habitats. In winter the birds tend to move to drier habitats such as overgrown ditches, hedgerows and gardens. Adults eat wild flower and grass seeds, with a supplement of flies, beetles, caterpillars and spiders. They feed mainly in grasslands that are not grazed or cut in the spring, such as arable field margins and hay meadows. They also find seed on cropped land, such as winter stubbles and weeds in the crop margins. They can find food in wet areas, including boggy field corners and grassy fringes of ponds and wet ditches.

Reed Buntings build their nests on or just above the ground in thick vegetation. Nest are made from grass, reeds and twigs with a soft lining of moss. Reed Buntings breed from mid-April to August. They lay up to 5 eggs, which are brown with heavy black spots and scrawls. When disturbed the parent often reacts by pretending to be injured. The young are fed almost entirely on insects until they are independent.

Current Status

Reed Buntings are more widely distributed in Europe than any other Bunting. They are common and widespread across the British Isles as well as central and northern mainland Europe. Northern populations are migratory but the British populations tend not to migrate. A decline in Reed Bunting numbers has occurred in recent years. Data from the Common Bird Census indicates that between 1970 and 1998 the Reed Bunting population has shown a decline of 54%. The most recent population estimate (1988-91) is 240 000 breeding pairs. The bird also underwent a decline in range by around 12% between the early 1970s and the late 1980s. It is not a species of conservation concern elsewhere in Europe where it is common and widespread. The decline has resulted in its being placed on the RSPB Red List of 'Birds of Conservation Concern'. The Reed Bunting appears on the UK Biodiversity Steering Group 'Middle List of Globally Threatened/Declining Species'.

Records suggest that Reed Buntings have always been regular but uncommon breeding birds in Hull. Between five and eight pairs breed on the marshy field and drain banks between North Bransholme and Holderness Drain. There are recent records from the former railway sidings at Priory Park East in the south-west of the City, the Queen Elizabeth Dock area, Bransholme Sewage Works and surrounding land. Scattered pairs of Reed Buntings are still likely to breed in several other outlying areas of the city, along reedy dykes and hollows, bushy and overgrown drain banks and along the northern stretches of the River Hull.

Current Factors Affecting Reed Buntings

• The decline of Reed Buntings has occurred at the same time as decreases in the numbers and/or range of many other farmland birds, many of which share its diet of cereal, grass and wildflower seeds and also feed their young on insects. It is therefore likely that its decline on farmland may be largely due to changes in agricultural practice. These changes include the increased use of pesticides and herbicides, the switch from spring-sown to autumn-sown crops and the consequent loss of winter stubble fields. The more intensive use of grassland and the general reduction in habitat diversity on farmland due to the loss of mixed farming and increased specialisation may also have affected Reed Buntings.
  
  
• Deterioration of wet habitats may have had a serious effect on populations. Modification of watercourses and field drains for land drainage has led to a loss in both the quantity and quality of the Reed Buntings characteristic wetland habitats.
  
  
• Loss of small ponds and the encroachment of scrub and carr are all likely to have had adverse effects on both habitat and food for breeding and wintering populations.
  
  
• Within Hull, the continued loss of wet and boggy habitats is likely to lead to a loss of the breeding Reed Buntings.

Current Action

Legal Status

The Reed Bunting is listed on Appendix II of the Bern Convention and protected under the EC Birds Directive. The Reed Bunting is also protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). It is an offence intentionally to kill, injure or take any wild bird, intentionally to take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird whilst it is in use or being built or to take or destroy the eggs of any wild bird. Reed Buntings are listed under Schedule 3 of the Act, which means that they can be sold if they are ringed and have been bred in captivity.

Management, Research and Guidance

The UK Biodiversity Steering Group has prepared a Species Action Plan for the Reed Bunting. In the short term, this seeks to halt or reverse the decline in the numbers of Reed Bunting by the year 2003, so that the Breeding Bird Survey index is at least at 1996 levels. In the long term, the national plan hopes to see a sustained recovery in numbers in both wetland and farmland habitats.

The Reed Bunting had not previously been regarded as a priority species for conservation action but it is likely to have benefited from initiatives for other wetland species since it readily moves into newly created wetlands. Conservation organisations have devoted considerable resources to gaining and managing reedbeds, wet grassland, saltmarsh and other wetlands.

The RSPB is the lead partner in continuing studies to understand the reasons for the decline in numbers of the Reed Bunting and to promote actions to reverse this decline. The newly purchased RSPB farm in Cambridgeshire will be looking at sympathetic agricultural methods that will benefit declining birds on farmland.

Annual monitoring will continue through the Breeding Bird Survey organised by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and RSPB.

Within Hull, local individuals and groups record Reed Bunting sightings but there is no current action.

Action Plan Aims

1. To determine Reed Bunting distribution in Hull.
2. To monitor Reed Bunting numbers.
3. To manage watercourses in ways that will benefit the Reed Bunting.
4. To maintain and enhance the marginal areas of fresh water habitats.
5. To increase the area of wild flowers and grasses to provide a seed source for Reed Buntings.

What We Are Going to Do

What We Can All Do

Help the Biodiversity Partnership determine the distribution of Reed Bunting in Hull by telling them of any sightings.
 

Links With Other Action Plans

The plan should be considered along with those for Fresh Water Habitats, Estuarine Habitats, Grassland, Industrial Land, Gardens and Allotments, and Trees, Scrub and Hedgerows. It is likely that the implementation of this plan will also benefit the Linnet, Skylark, Song Thrush, and Tree Sparrow.

References

Broughton, R.K. (2002) The Birds of the Hull Area. Kingston Press, Hull.

Gregory, R.D., Nobel, D.G., Cranswick, P.A. Rehfisch, M.M., Baillie, S.R. (2001) The State of the UK's Birds. RSPB, BTO, WWT, Sandy.

RSPB (1996) Birds of Conservation Concern in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man. RSPB, Sandy.

RSPB. The Loss of Farmland Birds. RSPB, Sandy.

RSPB, FWAG, The Game Conservancy Trust. Farming for Birds: Reed Bunting. RSPB, Sandy.

RSPB (2001) Wild Birds and the Law. RSPB, Sandy.