....no, not the common Geometrid moth that one may find in a July moth trap, but a willow beauty of a different kind!
On Tuesday morning this week, we were overjoyed to find a juvenile willow tit in scrub on the northern edge of silt lagoon 6 - this is the willow scrub that you can see on the lagoon edge from the gate behind the Beach Hut. This is significant for several reasons, firstly because it is only the third willow tit record in five years from Langford, after one in June/July 2010 and another in September 2014. Secondly, it is a local breeding record of a species that we haven't yet picked up as breeding either on site to locally to the site. And thirdly and most important of all, willow tit is a sadly declining species, having become extinct from many former areas in recent years and now a species that many of us don't see from one year to the next.
The willow tit is a bird of damp scrub and woodland, particularly with a lower tree canopy and a well developed shrub layer. They are cavity nesters, laying 6-8 eggs in a clutch and feeding young on a variety of invertebrates. Adults will also feed on seeds in the winter months. There are only around 3400 pairs of willow tit in the UK, such low numbers reflecting the species decline since the 1970's.
Their scientific name, Poecile montanus comes from the Greek and Latin meaning 'spotted mountaineer', an interesting name considering their relatively lowland habitat preference here in the UK. However, elsewhere in Europe they can be found at higher elevations, up to the tree line.
Whilst notoriously difficult to distinguish from the closely related marsh tit, Poecile palustris, there are several things that you can look out for. Willow tits have a dark base to the bill, whereas marsh have a light grey colouration in this area, just as the bill reaches the face. The black cap is dull, as opposed to glossy in marsh and extends further back down the nape to the mantle. The cheeks are white in willow, beige in marsh and willow displays a light wing panel on the closed wing, formed by the light edges of the feathers.
The most reliable way to tell willow and marsh tit apart however, is by call. Willow give a high pitched 'zee-zee-zee' or 'zrr-zrr-zrr' call, whereas marsh give a distinctive 'pitchoo'. Listen out for willow tit call around the silt lagoon area from the public footpath and path to the Beach Hut in the coming weeks. We have also had marsh tit winter on site before, so keep this in mind too later in the year.
Willow tit. Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)