RSPB Scotland has launched a new project as part of their long-term work to help Corn Bunting. Thanks to players of the People’s Postcode Lottery, the Postcode Local Trust has awarded funding for a 'Corn Buntings in the Community' project.
The project aims to celebrate Corn Bunting's return from the brink of local extinction and will create food, farming and wildlife trails for the species. The RSPB has been working with landowners and farmers in Fife for several years to prevent Corn Bunting from disappearing in the region – work has been focused in the East Neuk area, one of the remaining strongholds for the species in Scotland, with the species also hanging on in Angus, north-east Scotland and the Western Isles.
Funding from the People's Postcode Lottery will help Scottish Corn Buntings (Geoff Snowball).
The commitment of landowners and farmers to help Corn Buntings has paid dividends as numbers have increased by 60 per cent over the past four years in Fife, with birds recolonising areas where they have not been recorded for decades. This increase is down to ensuring the population has access to safe nesting sites late into the season, availability of insects to feed chicks and provision of seed food (especially during the winter).
This new, lottery-funded project will aim to provide free Corn Bunting seed mix to farmers and landowners, engaged local communities and visitors with the species and develop walking/cycling routes which will take people to areas where the can see the buntings. It's also hoped that local farm shops and cafes will support the cause.
Alasdair Lemon, from RSPB Scotland and part of the team working on the project, said: "We are really excited to see the Corn Bunting in the Community project get started. The seed mix has been distributed for this year and the Corn Buntings have been making good use of the areas. I've been out to some of the farms and spotted Corn Buntings perching on telephone wires and have run a few walks around the St Monans area already, but I am keen to get feedback from as many people as possible.
"We are really excited to see the final routes and to distribute the leaflet later this year for what we believe will be Scotland's first food, farming and wildlife trails. It's such a great opportunity to raise awareness of the story of these charismatic birds and how farmers and landowners are helping them. It would not have been possible without funding from the Postcode Local Trust so a massive thank you to all the players of the People's Postcode Lottery."
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