Bearded Tits

Very poor light this morning and the birds were some distance away so the quality of this shot is not very high. But I was lucky to get a shot which clearly shows the plumage difference between the “bearded” male and the female.
These are relatively rare birds with an estimate of 640 breeding pairs in the UK. The couple standing next to me had just driven three hours from Newcastle in the hope of their first sighting.

According to the British Trust for Ornithology they are not really Tits but are more closely related to Larks. And the males have more of a moustache than a beard.
They are restricted to Reedbeds which is why they are uncommon. They eat insects in Spring and Summer but change over to seeds in Autumn and Winter. In order to grind up the tough seed fibres they eat large quantities of grit. The RSPB fills these grit trays where the birds can most easily be seen.

Here at Leighton Moss they are doing well. One day last week 45 ringed individual birds were counted. This was, I was told, a record.