Garden birds

It has been an interesting week for birds on the feeders.  The most exciting sighting was a willow tit.  These photos were taken with the first camera to hand through the window.

I eventually got set up with a better lens with the window open but I have had only a few glimpses since.  This isn't a great photo but it does show the pale wing patch, said previously to be typical of willow tit (but watch the video in the link below).

My BTO Garden BirdWatch records show I have recorded a marsh tit three times in the past 25 years but never a willow tit.  Marsh and willow tits are hard to tell apart and my previous identifications could be wrong but I am grateful to Denise A, Phil A and Phil J for confirming the ID this time.  You can watch a short BTO video on telling marsh tit and willow tit apart here.

There are lots of woodpeckers as well and they tend to monopolise the peanut feeders.  Adults were still feeding fledglings this morning, three weeks after they first appeared.

Another rare summer sighting this week was a male siskin.  I see a few each winter but never before in the summer.  They did breed in the nature reserve only 1km away last year.

And another rare summer bird, a male reed bunting, a regular over the past three weeks.  I expect to see one or two in late spring but never before in the summer.

And previously reed buntings have always been ground feeders here but this one is happy on the seed feeder.

A pair of jays are here every day.  I hope they have a nest nearby and I may see young jays soon.  Jays nested in the garden last year but the nest was wiped out by carrion crows.

Activity on the feeders is frantic at the moment as there are so many young birds.  When it is here the willow tit isn't immediately obvious because there are so many young great tits.

There are almost 30 bird species in the garden each week, mostly regulars but every now and then a surprise.

End of year favourites - Northumberland

As I live on the northern edge of Newcastle it is very easy to escape into proper countryside.  Away from my garden and my two local haunts of Gosforth Park and Banks' Pond I most often head north up the Northumberland coast or west up the Tyne Valley.  Here are a few photos from my travels in Newcastle and Northumberland this year.

I expect you knew what they all are but if not here's a list: brambling (♂), common frog, ashy mining bee (♂), common lizard, chocolate mining bee (♀), adder (♂), grey seal, ring-necked parakeet, common hawker (♂), willow tit, yellowhammer (♂), hawfinch (♂), swallow, twite (♂), shore lark, snow bunting (♂), roe deer (♀).

Bird of the week - Willow tit

Willow tits are rare birds so I am very fortunate to be able to see them less than 5 miles from here.  Marsh tits and willow tits are very difficult to distinguish in the field, except by their calls, but these birds were calling to each other constantly, making identification very easy.  They are very engaging little birds and more confident than the blue tits and great tits in the same hedgerow.

When I watch them they usually grab a seed and disappear into the hedge to eat it.  They come back for another very frequently so I wonder if they are caching food in the hedgerow as coals tits do.  Sometimes they stop and eat the seed in full view.

Willow tits are in severe decline and are on the red list and have more or less disappeared from large parts of the south.  Causes for their decline include loss and degradation of habitat, competition from other tits (especially blue tits), and nest predation by great spotted woodpeckers,

They now have this curious distribution across the middle of the UK.

The willow tit is Poecile montanus, montanus meaning of the mountains.  I'm not sure where that came from as it doesn't live in mountains.  Thomas Bewick didn't include the willow tit in his A History of British Birds (1797) - I think it it wasn't identified as a separate species from marsh tit (Poecile palustris) until 1827.  It wasn't recognised in the UK until 70 years later, despite being widespread.  Archibald Thorburn painted blue tit, coal tit, great tit, marsh tit and willow tit about 100 years ago.

You can watch a BTO video on how to tell marsh tit from willow tit here (it's not easy if they are quiet).  Listen to the willow tit's call on the RPSB website here.  Read a review of research into the reasons for the willow tit's decline here. And listen to the BBC Radio 4 Tweet of the Day here.

Prestwick Carr