Beardies are back

Visitors to Radipole and Lodmoor recently might have noticed that bearded tits are starting to feature more frequently on the sightings board. It’s been mentioned before that the Weymouth Bearded tit population was almost wiped out by recent cold winters. Thankfully the Beardies have a way to rebuild their numbers. Breed, breed and breed some more! They are quite capable of successfully fledging three broods of chicks in one season which can rapidly increase their population in a reed bed.

This photo was taken pretty recently and shows two juvenile (a male and female) Bearded tits which is proves they are breeding successfully. I had a really nice view last week of a different family of beardies. The family consisted of a couple of very young beardies. In fact they were so young their tails were only half grown! They must have literally fledged the nest that day. Fingers crossed they continue to fledge chicks which should lead to a really good show when they start their irruption in late September. More about that when it happens!