Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)

In winter Tits and finches tend to forage in mixed flocks.  Long-Tailed Tits seem to prefer their own company as they always appear in largeish groups on their own.  In summer we will get the occasional one or two if they are nesting nearby.

Today the first winter group arrived, all nine of them.  Typically by the time I noticed them they were moving on and I only managed to blip this single bird.  If you are outside you generally hear the flock coming before you see them, as they are very vocal.

Weighing a gram or so less than a pound coin they are one of the small birds which seems to be holding its own in the modern environment.  They live on average 2 years with the record proven age being 8 years 11 months.  Set as recently as 2014.