February 21, 2021 12:46 pm A “far from controversial” idea, the reintroduction of the Corn Bunting to Ireland is being “gently” spoken about in conservation circles. But, why? According to BirdWatch Ireland, the Corn Bunting was once a “widespread resident in lowland agricultural areas” – that is, before it became extinct in the 1990s. Cork tillage farmer Paul Moore is co-ordinating a report on tillage farmland and biodiversity, with part of that looking at what research has been done internationally on reintroductions of the bird. Fat Bird Of The Barley Moore, a member of BirdWatch Ireland for the last 40 years, tells AgriLand that the “small, Sparrow-size bird, as the name suggests, is very much a bird of cereal-growing areas”.