"Kay Easton" wrote
Bart Bailey writes
What does your "little ball of yellow fluff"
hammer at, to give it its name?
easy to see where ours got its moniker

I've no idea about ours. They're getting less common - it's years since
I've seen one.

I remember them being quite common in Norfolk maybe twenty years ago but I
haven't seen one for quite a while either, now you mention it. According to
this page the hammer part derives from the German word for bunting,
'ammer'.
http://www.birdsofbritain.co.uk/bird...llowhammer.htm

Sue