It was good to have some cold weather just before Christmas, which I am sure, did something to kill off the various pests and diseases. It was not really severe enough to have much effect on the bird populations and their distributions. The logging of garden birds, which I do on a weekly basis, would not reflect the cold weather. The numbers coming to the feeders did not change much. During this cold snap I visited Oare marshes near Faversham a nature reserve run by Kent Wildlife Trust. It is an interesting reserve bordering the Swale and Faversham Creek with some good areas of marsh easily seen from the sea defence wall. I was on this wall when I saw a small flock of birds descend into the reed beds. Their pinging calls immediately told me that they were Bearded Tits (also known as Bearded Reedlings). I have only seen these birds a few times usually flying across a small channel in a reed bed when it is only possible to get a fleeting glimpse. On this occasion I had such an excellent vantage point that I expected some good views. Every time I followed an individual it landed on a reed head I thought “Now I am going to get a superb view”, only for the weight of the bird to bend the reed and swing it down out of sight. With patience I did get some good views and slowly the birds came closer and closer. Eventually they were only about ten yards away and afforded some fantastic views. The male bird is exceptionally handsome with an orangey red back and grey blue head contrasting with the bright orange beak. The very black beard which descends from each eye give the bird quite a fearsome look making it one of the nations most beautiful birds, assuming you get a good look, which is not very often! The female lacks the black beard and grey blue head but nonetheless is an extremely attractive bird in its own right. About a week later my bird watch magazine arrived and in it there was a wonderful article on Bearded Tits by John Wilson the RSPB warden at Leighton Moss in Lancashire. He first came across these birds whilst working at Minsmere in Suffolk, which had recently been colonised by the expanding Dutch population. When he moved to Leighton Moss in 1964 he thought there was no possibility of the reserve being colonised but just one year later in November 1965 he found a small wintering party but it was another six years before they bred. Not surprisingly he has learnt quite a lot about the species, some of which I will repeat here as it makes very interesting reading.

There about 500 pairs in the British Isles though this figure fluctuates wildly as the weather can reduce numbers significantly but there ability to have three broods in a season enables them to bounce back quickly. Unlike many passerine birds they are not territorial and they nest semi-colonially. They form pairs very soon after fledging and appear to remain faithful as long as both birds survive. Their diet is insects in the summer and seeds in the winter. The birds need grit in their gizzards to grind up the hard reed seed and one study in Germany found as many as 850 tiny stones in a single gizzard with the average being just over 600!

Elsewhere I have had a number or reports of Buzzards including as many as seven wheeling in the sky over Pymne Manor. I have seen two recently giving a courtship display near Sissinghurst. I am quite convinced they are breeding locally.

A recent visit to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve was very productive with good views of a Shore Lark. I mentioned one in January  2004 at nearby Pett Level and so this is the second one I have seen in this area inside four years. They have been very scarce this year in the British Isles. A female Long-tailed Duck also afforded good views. This is an Arctic breeding species that winters mainly in the Baltic Sea and therefore is not seen on inland waters that often. The visit concluded in the rain but also afforded us a fleeting glimpse of a Water Rail.