The yellowhammer is a declining breeding resident with a patchy distribution in the county, being absent from large areas of countryside. They feed on seed and grain and insects and, therefore, prefer arable farmland with hedges, bushes and other vegetation. The females build quite bulky nests low down in hedgerows, lined with grass, moss and even hair.  Yellowhammers produce two or three broods per season.Found across most parts of the UK, it is least abundant in the north and west.

In Carmarthenshire they are seen all year round, most frequently on dry bracken-covered hillsides and arable land in coastal areas. In winter they often join mixed flocks of finches and buntings. Recent population declines have make it a Red List species.

This decline is most likely a result of modern farming practices: autumn sowing of crops and the loss of winter stubble, which is affecting many other arable farmland birds, such as skylarks, finches and buntings.

The distinctive ‘little bit of bread and no cheese’ song characterises the species. The male has a bright yellow head and breast and uses high perches to defend its territory singing loudly. Both sexes have white outer tail feathers and a chestnut rump.

Its habitat preference in the county can be split into two broad categories: the dry, steep bracken-covered hillsides of the north east and the better agricultural land bordering Pembrokeshire and the coastal belt in the south and west. This leaves a large gap in the middle of the county where they are not found.

In south and west of the county, yellowhammers prefer large well-drained fields and perhaps dislike the smaller fields of damper pasture more typical of the central areas.

In the north east they have become increasingly scarce in the Rhandirmwyn area, perhaps as foraging with silage takes over from hay, although local reports indicate significant flocks coming to bird tables in the winter.
Corn and seed is most likely to attract them into the garden, especially in winter and spring when natural food supplies are short and this is a good way to help this species out. In addition sympathetic management of hedges allowing think dense habitat to develop provides good breeding habitat for these birds.