Yellowhammers (endangered due to lack of farmland hedges)
Yellowhammers are endangered birds in England, due to habitat loss and reduced winter food. Known for their bright plumage (females are more brown than yellow), they are a Red listed species.
Related to pine buntings, they have a distinctive song ‘see-see-see-see-bzuuuu’. They mainly eat seeds and insects (which they feed to chicks during the first weeks). In winter, they gather in mixed flocks with other finches, to feed on stubble fields (remaining stalks of wheat, barley and rye after the harvest).
How to help yellowhammers
Farmland is yellowhammer natural habitat, so it’s over to you farmers, to help!
- Avoid trimming hedges before September to protect nests (also avoid trimmers, use garden shears). It’s best to maintain thick hedgerows with field margins, to give birds natural food and shelter. Especially yellowhammers, as they nest on or near the ground.
- Farmers can help by creating wide grass margins around arable fields. This helps to seed weeds, and encourage insects as natural food.
- Leave the stubble on the fields, for birds and good soil. Don’t burn it to clear the fields, and never hire it out for stubble-track riding or motocross.
If yellowhammers visit your garden
Read our posts on creating safe havens for garden birds and how to stop birds flying into windows (both posts have lots of tips from what not to feed, how to safely clean feeders and how to safely site birdhouses – to avoid building up speed near glass).
If birds do need artificial feeding (only in brand-name feeders), choose quality millet and oil-rich sunflower hearts from proper companies that know what they are doing.
Other stunning yellow colours in nature
Yellow is one of nature’s oldest colours, even prehistoric cave paintings show pigments using yellow ochre. Known to symbolise happiness and optimism, for humans it’s the colour most visible to the human eye from a distance (why it’s used for school buses and safety vests).
Yellow is often a colour on bird feathers, to attract a mate. In nature, yellow is used more as a colour to attract pollinators. Read how to grow your own cheerful sunflowers!
Goldfinches are small and highly social birds, with yellow wing patches and bright red faces, that travel together in a noisy flock. They use their slender beaks to eat thistle and niger seeds, and commonly visit English gardens. They also like dandelion and lavender seeds. Their ancient name was ‘thistle-tweaker!’
Found all over the UK (apart from northern Scotland), you’ll also spot them in the woods and farmland. Some (not all) migrate to Spain for winter. They nest in cup-shaped nests.
Autumn leaves can also be yellow, and of course, the sun (which is actually a star) is bright yellow!
In China, there is even a ‘yellow river’, the water coloured by the huge amount of sediment discharged into it, as the river flows through the Loess Plateau.
Yellow Found in Foods (carotenoids)
Many foods are also yellow (bananas, lemons), due to carotenoids. Many birds have yellow feathers, due to consuming carotenoid-rich foods.
Yellow as a Deterrent
The golden poison dart frog (from Columbia) is possibly the most poisonous creature on earth. 100 times stronger than morphine, it can can kill 20,000 mice or 10 people, even from touching it. You may have heard of it recently in the news, as its poison was used to kill Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
And yes, it’s yellow. Despite never having actually killed anyone themselves, these frogs are now endangered due to being poached or used for the pet trade.
