Spectator competition winners: poems about the yellowhammer

For the latest competition you were invited to submit a poem about yellowhammers. This sparrow-sized songbird has inspired poetry from John Clare’s lovely ‘The Yellowhammer’s Nest’ to Robert Burns’s unlovely ‘The Yellow, Yellow Yorlin’ (‘But I took her by the waist, an’ laid her down in haste/, For a’ her squakin’ an’ squalin…’ and you took up this challenge with gusto. Strong performers, in a top-notch and wide-ranging entry, included Bill Greenwell and David Shields. The winners, below, earn £25 each.

W.J. Webster A certain subtle, govian fellow, When asked what code name he preferred, Chose ‘hammer’ as a striking word Then made his point by adding ‘yellow’. For, emberiza citrinella Was a species badly hit When Brussels’ CAP that didn’t fit Sabotaged the hedgerow dweller: The drive to get far bigger yields Made acreage easier to combine But helped to cause a sharp decline In birds that needed hedged-in fields. The yellowhammer flies alone While some birds like to flock together: It’s glad of its distinctive feather And sings a song that’s all its own.

Alan Millard ‘A happy home of sunshine, flowers and streams,’ Wrote Clare of your abode, yet now we know That in some grim, worst-case scenario The poet’s words might be the stuff of dreams.