Durham Bird Club at 50

The county avifauna, The Birds of Durham (Bowey and Newsome, 2012) records that “A public meeting in late 1974 at Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery to discuss bird watching and recording was well-attended. This was followed on 8 January 1975 by another meeting and enrolment for membership of the Durham Bird Club began shortly afterwards.”

We shall be organising various projects and events during the year to commemorate this special anniversary. These include a "Bird of the Week" feature, appearing below.

Bird of the Week - Week 23

Yellowhammer – A Song Fading from Farmland

(Photo by Mark Harper)

The Yellowhammer - that unmistakable, canary-yellow bunting, known for its “a-little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese” song - is sadly not as common in County Durham as it once was. A resident all year round, it’s now mostly seen in patches of lowland farmland, particularly where hedgerows, field margins, and winter stubbles remain.

Once widespread, the Yellowhammer has declined sharply since the late 1980s. Changes in farming practices - especially the loss of mixed farming, hedgerows, and fewer seed-rich stubbles - have disrupted its food supply and nesting sites. In the UK, the Yellowhammer is on the Red List, with populations estimated to have fallen by around 50–60% since the 1960s.

In Durham, the bird now survives in well-managed farmland. Conservation measures - like cultivating stubbles later in the season, preserving thick hedges with wide margins, and planting winter seed crops - help create vital pockets of habitat. These measures support not only Yellowhammers but many farmland species struggling in modern landscapes.

Yellowhammers favour open fields with dense vegetation at hedge bases or ditches, where they build their cup-shaped nests. In winter, they often gather in mixed flocks of other buntings, finches, and sparrows, visiting farmyards and even garden bird feeders when seed is scarce.

Have you heard or seen Yellowhammers in your area this spring or summer? Whether it's their bright song on a warm day or flocks in stubble fields, we’d love to know where they're hanging on and how local habitats are supporting them.

More information on Yellowhammers

E-mail: admin@durhambirdclub.org.uk

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