Well we can't guarantee you'll get a glimpse of them, but a small group of these exotic looking birds have been flitting around the Otmoor reedbed for about a week and a half now. I have to admit I've still not seen them but if you head down to the reedbed on a still day there's a chance that you might (if you do see them or even better get a photo please let us know). Hopefully they will at some point start breeding on the moor, but at the moment they are just winter visitors.
At this time of year bearded tits are changing their diets from insects to seeds, to help them do this they swallow about 600 small pieces of grit to grind up the hard seeds. The Thursday volunteer team headed down to the reedbed last week and erected 6 grit trays in the southern phase of the reedbed, seed has also been put onto the trays and we hope that this combination will lure the tits in closer to the viewing screen as they are currently being quite elusive. The latest report we've had of them was from Tuesday (23rd) in the northern phase of the reedbed, seemingly as far away as possible from the grit trays.
A thick mist has been hanging over the moor for the last few days, but amongst the gloom some interesting birds have still been seen. As well as the bearded tits, this week we have also had reports of exciting species including redwings, fieldfares, ravens, a hen harrier, goldcrests, water rail, siskin, red poll, brambling, kingfisher and stonechat.