Cirl Buntings in my home county of Devon.

We are very fortunate here in South and East Devon to have a population of around 1000 breeding pairs of Cirl Buntings, apart from a small population in the adjoining county of Cornwall, this is the only place in the UK where you can see them. In the last 14 years the population has incressed from a hundred or so pairs to where we are now. This is due to work by the RSPB and local land owners and, credit where credit is due, the RSPB should be heartily congratulated. There are a few places in the county where food is put out for them to ensure their survival during the winter. I went to one of those feeding areas today to see how they were doing this year and obviously, to take some photographs and it was a very successful session. The males are certainly very distinctive, with a boldly patterned face; black and yellow, and hints of red on the back and red over yellow on the breast. A very pretty bird. Females could be confused with a Reed Bunting female but there is no white on the face.  Even though birds were coming down to feed on the scattered seed almost constantly while I was there, it wasn't all that easy to get good pictures. Any movement would send them back in to the safety of the hedge so it was imperative that you stood very still.  They are very well camouflaged in spite of the yellow face and they blend in with the earth and grasses very easily. It was also very interesting to see how they would react to an alarm call from other birds not on the ground. Just a single note would send them all, including the Dunnocks, Greenfinch and Robin, back in to the hedge only to reappear again one at a time until the area was covered in little birds feeding, to be repeated over and over.  At one time the alarm was raised and they all hastily disappeared and didn't reappear but then I noticed a Buzzard soaring above and it was obvious that this time it wasn't a fa;se alarm.  However it is most unlikely that a Buzzard would try to predate a tiny bird like this.