Monday 11 January 2016

Time with the extended family

There are five species of 'true' tit on the Dorset list - Willow is sadly now lost to the County as a breeding bird, leaving Blue, Great, Coal and Marsh as the most likely to be seen these days. (Long-tailed, Bearded and Penduline Tit are all from closely related families, but are not considered 'true' tits). After Willow, Marsh Tit is the least likely of the 'true' tits to be encountered, but there are a few sites in Purbeck where they may come to feeders in winter, including Arne and, this winter, Corfe Castle. I popped along there yesterday, in the half-hour of daylight which remained after watching table-topping Wareham Rangers U-13s drop three points at home to the Parkstone Falcons. A result, since you ask, which leaves them just three points ahead of second-placed Swanage, who they play in their next fixture - making it a real six-pointer of a Purbeck derby. The light was going as I arrived, and had I known the boys were going to get mugged in a last minute counter-attack I might have invested the 60 minutes I spent before that, watching them spurn a hatful of chances, getting better photos of Marsh Tit!
Marsh Tit, Corfe Castle
The much commoner Blue Tit at Corfe Castle
This Coal Tit was seen earlier in the day at Bestwall
Great Tit among the pines at Swineham earlier in the day
Long-tailed Tit, from the family Aegithalidae, at Swineham

2 comments:

  1. Great picture of the Coal Tit.
    Well done. I hope I can join you in "hunting" one day.
    Happy New Year

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  2. Thanks Bill, Happy New Year to you too. Rowan is desperate to go to New York so we may see you over there one day.

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