THE WILLOW TIT

 The Willow Tit is now a very rapidly declining species even rarer than it's very close cousin the Marsh Tit which itself is now a very rare bird. I was lucky enough to watch a pair of Marsh Tits from a distance back in the Spring as my good friend and bird nesting guru Stephen Carter discovered a nest in a local wood situated in a Dormouse box. 

Amazingly though some Willow Tits had been discovered coming in to bird feeders at a Country Park at a place called Llyn Llech Owain near Llanelli. So me and my now regular birding mate Steve Bool decided to take the trip down there to see these delightful little birds and it would be a tick for both of us as neither of us had ever clapped eyes on a Willow Tit before.

the country park

We arrived at the car park and as we both hadn't been there before we didn't have a clue where the feeders were so we asked a very kind gentleman and his wife for directions. He showed us where to go and gave Steve some bird seed as well very kind.

 

the feeders

We got to the hide where the feeders were and sat down and waited rather excited at the chance of seeing our first Willow Tit's. There were loads of different birds coming into feed and after a few minutes in came the Willows we were both delighted to have seen them, I got my camera going and started to take some pics and Steve "the digiscope king"started taking pics and video with his scope and iphone.

our first willow tit

cracking little birds

Here's some of the footage that Steve took.

Like I said there were loads of birds besides the Willow Tit's coming to the feeders so here's a few of them that I managed to photograph.

male house sparrow

long tailed tit

female great spotted woodpecker

and the male

male bullfinch

robin

blue tit with the willow

coal tit

great tit

Obviously though the star of the show was the Willow Tit's

willow tit

and the final image

Great couple of hours at the country park and who would have believed that the very rare Willow tit would be there just feet away from us incredible. 

We had our customary tea/coffee and cake to celebrate in a lovely little cafe which gave us chance to look over our pics and footage what a great morning.

THE TAWNY'S HAVE MOVED HOME

My resident Tawny Owls have been nesting and roosting in a box I put up for them over the last couple of years. I had seen them in December/January at the box entrance enjoying the winter sunshine but later on in the year I noticed that the box was full of sticks.

tawny's at the entrance hole in the box

one of the owls

I suspect this was the work of squirrels, but as my expert nesting mate Stephen Carter had told me that there was no way a squirrel would eject a Tawny Owl from it's nesting site. I was gutted that they wouldn't be there anymore but just couldn't understand why they would leave. Perhaps one or both had died who knows but I knew that they hadn't left the area as I could still hear them calling in the evenings.

In the autumn and winter months we do have some bad storms and have had a couple of trees come down. While walking our dog through the small wood near my home I noticed that a big branch had come from a tree leaving a rather large hole, I wonder I thought, as I got nearer the hole a Tawny flew straight out, it seems that they have moved into this new tree hole, I was pleased to have found them and set up my trail camera opposite the tree hole to see if I could get some footage.

treehole

As I was setting up the camera trap a couple of days later the Owls flew out again confirming that they had decided to use this new site. I got the wife to help me with the camera so I was able to get a couple of images of an Owl as it flew out.

owl flying out of the tree hole

what a beautiful bird

Here's some of the camera trap footage, they're getting harrassed by the squirrels but both birds it seems are staying put.

Here are some frame grabs from the video, I think the smaller Owl is the male and is a different bird than the original bird in the picture at the nest box.

I think this is the male and is a different bird from the original pair

I think this is the original female

both birds together

It's great to know that they're still residing in the woods and hopefully will nest in their new home successfully this year fingers crossed.

  

FINDING THE BEARDED TIT'S

After the no show by the Bearded tits at Newport Wetlands my good friend and birding buddy Steve Bool was determined to see them before the Winter set in and the weather would restrict our birding outings and our chances of seeing this cracking little bird.

There was news of them showing well at Westhay Moor on the Somerset levels, so Steve once again did the driving as we headed down there to see if we could see them.

When we arrived it was a pretty still day so we were hopeful of getting at least a glimpse of them as they don't like windy conditions and so tend to stay deep in the reeds.

There was a large pond as we walked in to the reserve with some of our resident species of Ducks, the males do look rather handsome after their summer moult.

male wigeon

male gadwall

shoveler 

We went into a place called the Island Hide where we spoke to a Warden who was showing some birders around. He told us that non had shown yet but this was the best area to see them. We waited there for a while but nothing, so we decided to look elsewhere. As we left the hide we heard a metallic pinging as a small bright tawny bird shot straight passed us it was the Bearded Tits. We went back into the hide where they were right in front of us to close even for Steve's scope, they were picking up grit from a post, the grit is put there by the Wardens to help them break down the reed seeds which is a large part of their diet. I managed to get some pics but the reeds were a bit of an obstruction.

male bearded tit

female

They are beautiful little birds especially the males with that bluey grey head and the black moustachial stripe.

They came down on the walkway in front of the hide they didn't seem to mind that we were there at all.

female bearded tit

female and male together

male

We spent a brilliant twenty minutes or so in the company of these great little characters.

After the Beardies had gone elsewhere we moved on, Westhay Moor is superb reserve with lots of great species. We saw a flyover Bittern (no pic I'm afraid) and this Great White Egret looking for food at one of the many hides.

great white egret

We also watched this female Marsh Harrier quartering over the reedbeds.

female marsh harrier

There were lots of different waterfowl species to many to photograph but here are some Canada Geese coming into land.

canada geese

A fantastic morning spent at Westhay Moor and we got to see the Bearded Tits the males are gorgeous.

male bearded tit

Big thank you once again to my best mate Steve Bool for being my chauffeur fairplay he's a diamond although I do buy the coffee and cake :-)

Westhay Moor is a beautiful area on the Somerset levels and it would be great to go down there again perhaps in the Spring, what a place I can't wait.

A LITTLE OWL WHILE LOOKING FOR BEARDED TITS

My good birding buddy Steve Bool and yours truly went to RSPB Newport Wetlands Reserve a few weeks ago in search of the Bearded Tit's. This species is more closely related to the Babblers and Parrotbills of Asia than the tits and is largely wholly dependant on reedbeds. They can be difficult to see though they do call frequently which especially on windy days is the best way to locate them.

It was a bit breezy the morning we went but we were hopeful that some would show. This juvenile Mute Swan kept us amused for a few minutes as we walked along the reedbeds.

juvenile mute swan

Looking over the sea wall there were a few waders mostly redshanks but they were a mile off as the tide was right out. This Curlew came in close enough for a half decent image.

curlew

It was also nice to capture this Little Grebe with a fish it must have just caught.

little grebe

Still no sign of the Beardies, it was pretty quiet there birdwise this cormorant flew by as we were searching so I grabbed a couple of images as Steve kept looking.

cormorant

It was getting a bit more breezier by now so after two circuits of the reserve and not one Bearded Tit was heard or seen we gave up the ghost and decided to have a cup of tea. We met a fellow birder Neil Hooper in the canteen and he had very briefly seen the birds but they had disappeared deep into the reeds out of the wind. He did tell us of the location of a little Owl that was showing near the bottom of the reserve so we decided to have a look at that and he was right, there were a pair of Little Owls in a tree near a nest box that must have been put up for them. We forgot the disappointment of the Bearded Tits and started watching and photographing this beautiful looking owl.

little owl

a little beauty

So although we never got to see our target species we did get to see this beautiful Little Owl, if we hadn't gone to the reserve that day we might never have seen them. Look out for my next blog where we go looking for the Bearded Tits at a different location until then thanks for dropping by and I'll catch you soon.

A PAIR OF LUCKY BUSTARDS

 My good mate Steve Bool had a job delivering down in Gosport and asked me to accompany him as he was going to look for the Great Bustards on the way back on Salisbury plain. Once again I was delighted that he'd asked me and jumped at the chance to try and see these majestic birds.

The Great Bustard was once a regular breeder but declined to become an extremely rare visitor. Although being associated with farmland it requires large open landscapes, so when landowners started enclosing fields with hedgerows the population plummeted with the last wild breeding individual being collected in 1832 in Suffolk.

The Great Bustard Group (GBG) began it's reintroduction program in 2004 on Salisbury Plain with a 10 year trial licence which was granted by (DEFRA). The GBG imports eggs, raises the chicks, and protects the young before releasing the adult birds into the wild. Breeding was first confirmed in 2009 and by 2019 the GBG achieved it's goal and has a self sustaining population. The Great Bustards are now breeding at a limit where they are self sufficient.

On the day we went the weather was very gloomy with visibility being quite poor. The Bustards were last sighted just off a B, road between Upavon and Enford on Salisbury plain all we had to guide us was this snapshot of a map of the area but with Steve being a Courier and driven all over the country he obviously managed to find the road but where were the birds.

our map

We parked up at a pull in and started scanning the area. We even asked people in the odd car that passed by if they new where the bustards would be but no luck.

We started to walk up the road from where the van was parked, we had seen a Hen Harrier which was in itself a great spot and a few other local species, then all of a sudden from behind me Steve screamed "THERE THEY ARE" and bang! in the distance there were four Great Bustards. We were both to put it mildly over the moon. Steve ran back to the van to get his scope and I started to try and take some pictures, the birds were so distant and the weather so gloomy that the results wasn't great but we had seen them Great Bustards a lifer for both of us.

distant bustards

Steve took a couple of videos through his scope and I some more pictures. When we got back home I did my best to try to edit them to some sort of usable standard. They're not great but for how bad the conditions were not to shabby.

great bustard

and another

we think these are males

Here's one of Steve's short digiscoped videos.

So two lucky old birders taking a chance and coming up trumps. The area is so vast that they could have been anywhere, we both felt so fortunate to have seen them.

the great bustard

A big thank you to Steve Bool once again for taking me with him on which turned out to be an epic trip it was brilliant, until the next one cheers!