This blog was written by Tim Smith, Visitor Experience Officer - Ham Wall
Bearded Tits, Bearded Reedlings, or affectionately just ‘Beardies’. Whatever you call them, it’s always a treat to catch a glimpse of these distinctive little birds marauding through the reedbed. Although resident at Ham Wall throughout the year, autumn is typically your best chance to see them. Read on to find out all about this unique species and some top tips for spotting them on our reserve.
John Crispin
At different times thought to be in the Tit or Parrotbill families, Beardies are now understood to be in an evolutionary family all of their own, with no close relatives in existence today. Only the adult males actually have the ‘facial hair’ of their name, which in reality looks much more like a moustache. That’s right, neither part of their common name is particularly accurate! The markings are a very striking feature, contrasting against an ashy-grey head and breast, with an auburn body and tail. The females and juveniles are entirely this same rich red-brown colour, with white wing bars. To match their gregarious behaviour (going around in groups), gangs of youngsters really do look like bandits, their immature markings giving them a strong Zorro aesthetic!
As with a few of our other slippery reedbed specialists – Cetti’s Warbler, Bittern and Water Rail – you are much more likely to hear a Beardie than to see one. Through most of the year, individuals are busy foraging around the base of the reeds for invertebrate food, so are easily lost from view in the swaying forest of reeds. Their call is well known as a ‘ping’ – a single syllable, short and rhythmic. It can often be the first clue that they are moving through a nearby reedbed, often in family groups.
At this time of year however, when the reed has produced a bumper crop of seed heads, sightings of Beardies are much more common as they graze along the tops of the reedbed in the open. You still have to be in the right place at the right time mind, but you could see or hear these passerines from most parts of the reserve. The areas we commonly recommend are the path to the Avalon Hide and the hide itself. With reedbed all around you, you have every chance they may busily flitter past or right over your head!
This year we are installing trays of grit across the reserve to provide for the beardies during autumn and winter (keep an eye on Steve's weekly blog for the locations of the trays). Swallowing grit helps them to transition from their summer insectivorous diet to one of mainly reed seeds in the autumn and winter, grinding down the tough husks into something digestible. Switching to survive on the food that is available - seed heads - means these birds don’t have to migrate south during the colder months as insect numbers drop along with the temperatures in the UK. Not only is the grit a vital part of their diet, we’re hoping the trays will also provide a spectacle for visitors vying to see this usually elusive species.
Verity Hill (rspb-images.com)
It’s during September and October that we carry out coordinated surveys with our partner organisations across the entire Avalon Marshes. Although very difficult to estimate breeding numbers during spring (somehow they are even more reclusive than normal!), counts during the autumn months have yielded over 100 individuals in recent years, just within Ham Wall. Nationally, numbers have been slowly climbing from lows during the 20th Century, when harsher winters had particularly drastic affects on this species. Populations in Britain now mostly exist around the milder coastlines and in the south of the country. Good luck on your reedling recon!
You can find out more about Beardies and hear their call for yourself by following this link: Bearded Tit Bird Facts | Panurus Biarmicus - The RSPB