Bearded Tits !

An early start this morning saw me in place before dawn at Leighton Moss waiting at the grit trays hoping for the opportunity to photograph Bearded Tits.  It was a very atmospheric start to the day with Red Deer roaring, Water Rail squealing & a number of Snipe bombing around.  Wonderful stuff, but what of the main objective ?

After a short while the distinctive pinging calls were heard, and a female showed - albeit very briefly.  Then more calls, but nothing was seen during the next hour.  Was that to be it, one brief showing ?  Fortunately that was not to be it, as a pair then appeared and showed well for 10 minutes.  For the most part they spent their time on the grit trays, not the most photogenic setting but accepted gratefully nonetheless, before they did pose for a short time on the edge of the reeds before disappearing into deeper cover.  Another 15 minutes passed and then showtime with 6, maybe 7 individuals arriving and showing well for 10 minutes again.

In total I believe there were possibly 9 individuals, with four different colour ringed females, three colour ringed adult males and at least one, possibly two different unringed 1st winter males.


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