Marsh....

This morning we didn't go far. In fact we only went as far as Alnwick and Lesbury, no more than 5 miles from home, where we walked the old railway line hunting for 'brown' tits. That might get a few unwanted hits...

At this spot we are still lucky enough to encounter Marsh and Willow, with Willow being the most common and widespread, probably due to their incessant buzzing calls. Today its more discreet cousin the Marsh Tit was our target.

In one likely spot we heard some faint and distant Marsh Tit like sub sounds but despite taking time for a good look we couldn't pick one out of the masses of Blue Coal and Great Tits all calling together.  While searching we did flush 5 Woodcocks though which are always nice to see.

After a break for tea we headed back to the other end of our walk in the car to wander in from the other side. We ended up in the same spot where again we could hear the faint calls of Marsh Tit somewhere.

I wandered across a small, 'rewilded' field with self set hawthorn, blackthorn and willows growing all over. Then, from a tall Larch plantation came a loud 'pitchoo' call. High up in breezy larch tops we found a pair of Marsh Tits feeding on the seeds of the cones. The male had bursts of singing now, that wasn't occurring earlier.

So our goal was achieved.Supported by the Woodcocks, a lovely singing Dipper, Siskins, Long tailed Tits and Goldcrests, it turned out to be a canny morning...

These 4 images show the same bent tailed male Marsh Tit. Lots of these seem to have a curvature of the rectrices, maybe as a result of a confined hole roost site