Bearded Tit Gritting Season Gets Underway

I have just returned from watching the superb sight of at least 11 Bearded Tits busily gritting on the specially provided grit trays just off the Public Causeway at Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve. They have started gritting this year a few days later than normal but it got underway with a bang with 13 birds seen on  September  30th. After a period of warm weather with lots of  insects around a sudden drop in temperature brought the birds to the trays so they have grit in their gizzards to grind up the reed seeds which they turn to once insects decline. In most previous years adults have been the first to visit followed by juveniles a few days later. But  this year about half the birds identified by their colour rings were  birds hatched this year and ringed as juveniles. Possibly this is a reflection of a better breeding season this year with 40 juveniles caught this year compared to only 17 in  2012.

The colour rings enable us to identify the birds individually as part of a population study which started when the Bearded Tits first colonised The Moss in 1973 with just one pair. To date we have identified  10 adult males and 11adult females but we usually pick up quite a few more during the gritting season. We identified two new ones yesterday.

Perhaps the most interesting sighting yesterday was a pair seen together on the tray at 11.45. This pair occupied one of our wigwam nest boxes this year. You  may have watched the RSPB Web Cam shots from the nest box in late April early May when they reared  four young. Last gritting season they visited the grit trays together on 13 occasions and were obviously a pair. They nested together  and have returned to the  grit trays together this season. This again shows that Bearded Tits once paired remain together throughout the year.

Today another pair which also used our nest boxes turned up again together  and had been seen together on the trays 10 times last autumn.

The RSPB Web Cam is now installed on one of the trays so you can watch in comfort. Today though they seemed a little camera shy and used the other two  tables more although on one occasion five were on view from the camera.

Thanks to Alan Gallagher for the photos
John