The Scribble Lark

 The Scribble Lark (aka Yellowhammer)

As the Yellowhammer is a member of the bunting family, why isn't it called Yellow Bunting? 

Well, it is really, because "ammer" is a German term for bunting. Yellowhammer is an Anglo-Saxon name dating from well before 1066. English is a Germanic language and lots of old words from those days still persist. There were attempts to change to Yellow Bunting, but the old country name held sway.

So where does Scribble Lark come in then? The Yellowhammer isn't a lark either.

The term Scribble Lark comes from the appearance of the Yellowhammer's egg - it looks as though someone has scribbled on it. Apparently the country folk who gave it this name weren't up on bird families 😂

Yellowhammer eggs in the nest

I had heard of this old English name because Roy Harper mentions it in one of his songs -  "Forget Me Not" from "HQ", a favourite album of mine from 1975.

Can you remember, my love, the day we began?
The grass in the meadow was long, the scribble lark sang

4 birds in the bush

Yellowhammers have been singing for a while now locally and although they sing from perches in trees or bushes, they are ground feeders. Like other birds, they will be pairing up and looking for nest sites soon.

When I got my first book about birds, the Yellowhammer was the very first entry in it, and having been born in a town I used to dream of seeing one.

My first bird book!

The first entry - The Yellowhammer

This was where I got the mnemonic from for its song "a little bit of bread and no cheeese". It still works for me today and takes me back to those early days.