Cirl Bunting

Emberiza cirlus

Rare local residents of 860 breeding pairs in Devon & Cornwall, rare vagrant elsewhere.

Rare vagrant in Ireland.

Also breeds in Western Europe including France & Spain.

Males have a bright yellow head, with a black crown, eyestripe and throat, and a greenish breast band across its otherwise yellow underparts, and a heavily streaked brown back.

Females are much more like the Yellowhammer, but has a streaked grey-brown rump and chestnut shoulders.

The monotonous song of the male is a rattling trill, like the Arctic Warbler or the terminal rattle of the Lesser Whitethroat.