Marsh Tit On The Red List

The crisp weather of last weekend extended to Monday so I decided to go to Leighton Moss to seek the Bitterns that had been showing very well over the weekend. Unfortunately minus five degrees centigrade overnight completely froze the reserve water and there wasn’t a Bittern in sight. I did , however, watch the Marsh Tits on the bird feeders and remembered how I used to encounter these birds in the Ribble and Hodder valleys. It is sad that I have not seen one in those localities for more than two years and so quick is the decline of this bird that it has now been added to the Red List making it one of Britain’s most threatened species. At present there are no apparent reasons why they are decreasing so quickly, so all the people who go to Leighton Moss to look for Bitterns should spare some time to admire the Marsh Tit before it is too late.

It always amazes me as to how everyone’s individual gardens attract different species and numbers of birds. A friend from Huddersfield phoned during the week and invited me to come and have look at his garden. What was so special about his garden? He just happened to have more than fifty Redpolls feeding on three large niger seed feeders hung outside his conservatory. There was no light to film but just to witness this spectacle was amazing. Why were they attracted to his garden? Well it was on the edge of a mature undisturbed wood, an enormous amount of niger seed was put out for them and there were no cats or Grey Squirrels. All other reasons are known only to the Redpolls themselves!