Appearance
The Yellowhammer is a robust 15.5–17 cm long bird, with a thick seed-eater's bill. The male has a bright yellow head, yellow underparts, and a heavily streaked brown back. The female is much duller, and more streaked below. The familiar, if somewhat monotonous, song of the cock is often described as "A little bit of bread and no cheese", although the song varies greatly in space.
Naming
Its name is thought to be from the German word "ammer" meaning bunting.
Habitat
It is most commonly found on lowland arable and mixed farmland, probably due to the greater availability of seeds. It nests in hedges, patches of scrub, and ditches, especially if these have a wide grass margin next to them, and a cereal crop next to the margin. Hedges of up to two metres tall are preferred, and they will not nest until it is in full leaf, building the nest next to the hedge if it is built before this. In winter, the flocks feed at good seed sites, such as newly-sown fields and over-wintered stubbles.
Food
Seeds of:⤷ Cereal, grasses, Common Nettle, dock, knotgrass "Polygonum aviculare", Fat Hen "Chenopodium album", Common Chickweed "Stellaria media", Mouse-ear "Cerastium", Bramble, Vetches, Clover, Forget-me-not, Dandelion, Knapweed, Sow-thistle "Cicerbita", Yarrow, Plantains "Plantago"
Invertebrates - mainly, but not exclusively - taken through the breeding season:
⤷ Springtails, mayflies, grasshopper, cockroach, earwigs, bugs Hemiptera, lacewings, caddis flies, sawflies, spiders, woodlice, caterpillars, flies, beetles, earthworms, snails
They are more able to feed on the slower-moving invertebrates.
References:
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