Richard Collins: Hand-reared songbirds learn the songs they need to survive

Baby cirl buntings had only heard bird song recordings on a CD — but they managed to learn enough to find mates and defend their territories when they were released

Cirl bunting (Emberiza cirlus) Conservation status:Red. Picture: RSPB

Wrong-way Corrigan, an American pilot of Irish descent, was refused permission to fly solo from the US to Ireland. But he did so anyway, claiming that, due to an instrument malfunction, he had taken a wrong turn. Douglas Corrigan landed at Baldonnel on July 28, 1938 after a 28-hour flight.

On May 8, 2006, an avian kindred spirit turned up at Mizen Head. Slightly smaller than a yellowhammer and not as colourful, the visitor was identified as a cirl bunting — a species never recorded previously in Ireland. The bird’s arrival here might seem unremarkable but this species hardly ever migrates, although flocks of buntings roam the countryside visiting local stubble fields, and a ringed one flew from Belgium to the south of France.