A former very rare winter visitor.

In the late nineteenth century Cirl Buntings were quite widespread in southern England. Crossman (1902) considered them to be, “sparsely distributed along the hills of the north of the County.” From the beginning of the twentieth century their breeding range began to retract towards the south. This decline continued steadily until the late 1960s when the British population collapsed.

Foster (1914) recorded that they were, “occasionally seen in the neighbourhood of Stevenage”. Mr S. Maples described them at Stevenage as, “an occasional visitor not readily distinguishable from the Yellow Bunting (Yellowhammer)” adding, “I noticed several of these birds near Fairlands Farm on 10 March 1907.” In winter small flocks were known to wander to places where they did not breed, and hayricks were favoured feeding sites.