Bearded Tits

Out in search of the Bearded tits again this morning. It was a frosty start and the fen was shrouded in mist. I walked along past the oaks, not a good year for acorns it seems and consequently there are very few Jay’s around. A small mottled brown bird darts silently out of a tree to a cacophony of alarm calls. He perches on a branch ahead and bobs up and down – a Little Owl, he turns and glides away through the trees. Rounding the corner I come face to face with a Roe deer buck, for a few tense seconds we stare at each other. Then he barks and bounds away into the fen. As I walk through the area of cut fen two Snipe rocket out of the low vegetation, they are so well camouflaged I never see them before they see me. A few steps more and a trio more whisk away into the sky.

I set up in the same place as last week, but it’s quiet and again, I can’t help wondering if they’ve moved on. I hear some distant ‘pings’ in the reedbed behind me, was that an answering call to the reeds in front? I wait. There’s a group of three flitting around, but they’re distant and seem skittish. There’s a lot of Carrion Crow activity this morning, maybe that’s why they’re being extra shy today.

They pop up for a moment, then fly off together. Time for another long wait. An hour later, they flit over the reeds towards me, one flies high above to join it’s comrades out in the fen behind me, but two, a male and female remain.

The male poses for a couple of shots before they fly off together. A frustrating morning for me, though I didn’t come away empty handed, better luck next week!

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