If there’s one thing we know about October, is that it’s a Bearded Tit bonanza!
For decades now, we here at Leighton Moss have looked forward to autumn when these dazzling little birds become temporarily ‘easy’ to see.
Although resident, our Bearded Tits usually reside deep within the reedbed and for much of the year they can be pretty tricky to spot. Of course, those of fortunate enough to work or volunteer here, do get to see and hear them year-round but for many visitors this time of year is the premier period for getting good looks at these otherwise elusive birds.
But why is autumn the peak time for ‘beardie’ watching? Well, like many songbirds, Bearded Tits eat insects and other invertebrates throughout spring and summer when they are in good supply. But in autumn when this protein-rich food source starts to diminish, the birds need to look elsewhere for nourishment.
This is when they change their diet and focus on the plentiful reed seeds. In order to digest these small, relatively hard seeds they need to break them up to get to the essential pulpy hearts. Now, this isn’t easy when you don’t have any teeth and the birds’ bills aren’t quite designed to deal with the problem. So, from late September and through October and into November the birds need to eat grit which sits in a pouch in their chest (known as a crop) and grinds up the seeds as they eat them.
And this is where we come in.
Since the mid-1990s we have been providing platforms which pretty much look like a regular bird table, but rather than scatter sunflower seeds and suet pellets on them we place small piles of grit and sand. And the Bearded Tits can’t get enough of it. This was initially done purely for the birds’ benefit and gave us a unique opportunity to study this behaviour at close quarters.
We also realised that if the trays were placed in a public area, our visitors would also be able to get amazing views of the Bearded Tits. Our first ‘public’ viewing area along the Causeway proved a hit with birdwatchers and a few years ago we extended this space to allow more people to enjoy the spectacle. These trays were followed by another set, along the path to Grisedale. We did this for two primary reasons, the main one being to provide grit for birds on the south side of the reserve and secondly to give visitors an alternate viewing site on those busier days.
In recent years with the huge growth in digital photography, our trays have become more popular than ever and most days throughout the autumn you will see multiple camouflaged clad snappers keenly pointing their lenses at the trays in anticipation. And the results have been extraordinary – the volume of high-quality images of Bearded Tits just keeps growing! And we also have a live-stream camera on the Causeway trays, beaming footage continually onto a screen in the café and also to our YouTube page here
So, if you’d like to see Bearded Tits for yourself, now is the time to plan a visit. Here are few tips to help you succeed!
Photo from archive by Keith Kellet