List of birds of Leicestershire and Rutland
Common name Binomial Status
Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella Common resident breeding
Cirl bunting Emberiza cirlus Very rare , bred to 1920 , LROS
Black-headed bunting Emberiza melanocephala Very rare , BBRC
Reed bunting Emberiza schoeniclus Common resident breeding
Corn bunting Miliaria calandra Uncommon resident breeding
Buntings
Order : Passeriformes Family : Emberizidae Female yellowhammer The Emberizidae are a large family of seed-eating passerine birds with distinctively shaped bills . There are about 372 species worldwide , eight of which have been recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland .
Leicestershire and Rutland are neighbouring counties in the English Midlands. Rutland is the smallest county in England and its administration was amalgamated with its larger neighbour between 1974 and 1997. Since 1941, the two counties have shared a single bird-recording organisation, the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society (LROS). Since 1 January 1941, the date of the foundation of the LROS, 290 bird species have been recorded in the counties in an apparently natural wild state at least once. A further nine were documented prior to that date, but have not been recorded subsequently. There are nine introduced species that maintain themselves without necessary recourse to further introduction. The total list for the LROS recording area is therefore 308 species. Leicestershire and Rutland are landlocked lowland counties and most of the birds are typical of English farmland habitat. Many coastal, oceanic and highland birds are absent or rare, and there are few rare vagrants compared to coastal areas. The construction of two large reservoirs, Eyebrook Reservoir in 1940 and Rutland Water (England's largest reservoir) in 1976, has provided freshwater environments enabling many aquatic birds to thrive. The list below is based on the LROS checklist, using BOU species names, and the status descriptors in the accounts have the following meanings:
In the list below, BBRC means that a full description of nationally rare species is required for acceptance of the record by the British Birds Rarities Committee, and LROS indicates that a description of county rarities is required for acceptance of the record by the LROS Records Committee. Photographs of birds illustrating the list are not all taken within the locality.