Sussex Ornithological Society launches Corn Bunting survey ( www.birdguides.com )

The Sussex Ornithological Society (SOS) is launching a survey of Corn Bunting this year in an effort to assess the status of the Red-listed species in the county.

The last full countywide census of the species was carried out in 2014, covering 47 tetrads and identifying a minimum of 173 singing Corn Buntings. Extrapolating the population across surveyed areas suggested the population was between 536-647 singing males. The estimate of the county population in The Birds of Sussex, based on the BTO Atlas 2007-11, was between 240 and 350 singing males.

Corn Bunting is strongly associated with arable farmland and semi-natural grasslands and in Sussex its densities are strongest on the South Downs, with a few smaller breeding populations on the levels of East Sussex and the coastal plain of West Sussex.