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.