Hallucinations?

[jakunen]

I remember reading some time ago that the Longtail tit was extinct in may parts of teh country, including Berkshire.

Guess I must be hallucinating as I could swear I just saw about a dozen flitting over my blackthorn, birch and fat balls...

Better stop drinking any more alcohol I guess...

 

[Tantalus]

:shock:

i am just not gonna comment on any of the double entendres

have a happy new year too mate

Tant

 

[Justin Time]

Maybe you were thinking of the Crested Tit which we only get in the Scots Pine woods in the Highlands. LTTs are pretty wide-spread across the UK except for tree-less upland areas in Scotland. I love it when walking along-side a hedge and family of LTTs move through beside me, they seem quite unmoved by human presence.

 

[Paganwolf]

Jak I get lots of longtailed tits where i am (no essex jokes please )as you know you can hear them before you see them, ive some big willows by my house there always twittering around in them.. :biggthump fantastic bird :biggthump

 

[Burnt Ash]

I remember reading some time ago that the Longtail tit was extinct in may parts of teh country, including Berkshire.

Guess I must be hallucinating as I could swear I just saw about a dozen flitting over my blackthorn, birch and fat balls...

Better stop drinking any more alcohol I guess...

LTTs are amongst my favourite birds. Last winter, we had lots of LTTs regularly attending our peanut feeders outside the kitchen window. This winter, I haven't seen one. We've had all the other regulars, such as blue, coal, great, and marsh tits; green finches; nuthatches; greater spotted peckies, etc. No LTTs. Very sad!

Burnt Ash

 

[jakunen]

Hmm, peanut feeders...

I spent a fortune the other week on peanuts, fat balls, seed and feeders as we get a lot of birds including my own pair of robins (boy does that make me feel great, I'm hoping to be an 'uncle' this spring ) and so far only ONE blue tit has gone anywhere near the damn things. The LTTs seem to prefer scrounging for bugs on the trees.

Oh well...

 

[Ed]

and so far only ONE blue tit has gone anywhere near the damn things.

Its only been a couple of weeks......

The birds that already come to your garden already have their food sources and will keep eating them.... only when their winter food is running scarce will they hunt out new food and find your treats, meaning that more birds are likely to survive the winter and not starve.... you'll increase the population... and soon your garden will become the main food source of the expanded population (as the natural suroundings cannot support that many new birds).

Remember though if you go away or anything you will need to get someone to feed your birds or you will be starving the expanded population of their main food source.

Its all nature see.......

Ed

 

[jakunen]

Ed, used to work on a bird reserve as a kid so...grandmother-eggs?):

My garden is always full of birds and birdsong - various tits, finches, a family of VERY tame wrens, another of blackbirds (again quite tame), a nightingale (who loves to sit on my windowsill and sing its heart out at 3am...), and the occasional thrush or two.

My garden generally has more birds than most around here as I deliberately designed it to be wildlife firendly (log pile for bugs, pond with bathing area for the birds, plenty of seed and berry bearing plants, places to feed safe from nextdoors cats, high perches to sing from), and so it means that I don't have to use pesticids as the tits generally keep on top of the caterpillars that try to shred my gooseberry bushes etc.
Its just a bit frustrating when you know how much you've spent on food for them (we've had a lot of very bad frosts) and the little sods don't even look at it...

 

[Ed]

Its just a bit frustrating when you know how much you've spent on food for them (we've had a lot of very bad frosts) and the little sods don't even look at it...

Birds can be like that... set in their ways.... but its the smart ones that will survive.
In a few years you'll be compaining at how much you spend on the little critters (I know my mum does)... then its trying to keep the local cats away.... and don't even mention the families of squirrels after a free feed!!!


Ed

 

[Burnt Ash]

LTTs are amongst my favourite birds. Last winter, we had lots of LTTs regularly attending our peanut feeders outside the kitchen window. This winter, I haven't seen one. We've had all the other regulars, such as blue, coal, great, and marsh tits; green finches; nuthatches; greater spotted peckies, etc. No LTTs. Very sad!

Burnt Ash

A couple of LTTs this afternoon. My cup, it overfloweth!

Burnt Ash

 

[jakunen]

Congrats mate.

Lovely little things ain't they.

 

[ESpy]

Haven't seen as many this last year; I used to get gangs of 15-20 descending on the feeders.

 

[jakunen]

Just had to post a letter. Saw only 1 pair of LTTs and we used to get loads...

Maybe there aren't as plentiful...