Yesterday morning was the last of October’s bearded tit walks and it certainly didn't disappoint. It was a fairly bright mild morning and because the visitors were eager to see their first bearded tits I headed straight to the grit trays on the causeway. It is always a good sign when people are already there looking through scopes and binoculars. When we arrived there were 4 male and 3 female bearded tits on the grit trays. As we stood for a few more minutes more appeared from out of the reeds. In total I counted 12 birds at any one time which is the best I have ever seen! When you have this many together is proves an interesting task for the volunteers trying to record the coloured rings on each birds leg. These rings are part of the on going study of the bearded tits on the reserve and helps identify the age of every bird. When a guided walk starts off this well its is difficult to tear people away but we did head down to the public hide where we got great views of pintails, shovelers, 4 female goldeneyes and a great crested grebe. When we emerged from the hide there was a cettis warbler singing along the causeway. We missed a bittern by about 5 minutes and one was seen well throughout the day.
Deer were seen at Tim Jackson hide with a large stag with a group of hinds being present throughout the day.
The great white egret is still being seen around the reserve and the pool by Grisedale hide seems to be one of its favourite spots at the moment.
Starlings are appearing in larger numbers now and flocks of 3000+ have been seen at dusk from Lillians hide. They are very exciting to watch and we are looking forward to our first 'spectacular starlings' walk next Wednesday afternoon!
Male bearded tit (copyright David Mower)