The Lincolnshire Bird Club

I walked down to Boultham Mere this a.m. and saw:

1 x Green Woodpecker
4 x Redpolls (flying)
2 x Marsh Tit
5 x Stock Dove
1 x Long Tailed Tit
Several blue tits, great tits, robins and wrens but generally quiet in the cold conditions.The Marsh Tits were associating were blue and great tits which made for nice views of all 3 species together. Mere frozen as expected.

Matthew.

Hi Matthew,

Are you certain about your identity of the 2 Marsh Tits, did you hear them call?

I have birded Boultham mere and the area across to Swanpool for 30 years and have never recorded Marsh Tit.

Willow Tits have always been present in the area but are much scarcer now than they were, I even used to get them in my garden in winter. I have had 4 sightings of Willow Tits in the area this year with one bird on the feeders at Boultham mere on Monday.

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Regards,

Andy.

Hi Andy,
It went through my mind that I should be seeing Willow Tits and not Marsh Tits and partly the reason i went down was to try and see Willows based on your sightings Andy.
Ive not got a lot of experience with either species. Ive only seen Willow Tits twice before and neither were good and lengthy views. However, Ive seen lots of Marsh Tits before and now Im checking Collins.......!
I was initially drawn to these birds by sound - a drawn out,subdued scolding call sounding like a bird in trouble on or near the ground. The birds themselves were difficult to locate, flighty, restless, wary apart from a 5-10 minute period when both together they were actively foraging on the ground in dens-ish undergowth covered in frozen snow. In birch trees they didnt seem to mind the presence of mainly blue tits with the odd Great Tit but i wouldnt describe them as confiding.
I tried to concentrate on glossy/matt crown, large/small black bib, pale secondary panel etc. One bird definitely did not have pale wing panels. One bird had a large-ish black bib, relatively speaking whilst the other didnt. I put this down to raised feathering due to the cold conditions. Crowns were verging on glossy I would say but Ive never really id'd 'glossyness' on any Marsh Tits ive seen in the past. One bird appeared a warmer buffish hue than the other. They both appeared relatively small in flight with relatively long tails. Location wise they were in the trees near the bench at the end of the walk to the left of the Hide in and amongst the feeders but not on the feeders. I Id'd them on call alone. I heard lots of a single call note that ive heard many times when watching the Marsh Tits up at Potterhanworth. However I have to admit that this call was defiitely a more subdued "pitchu" than the ones up at Potterhanworth. All i can say is that the calls I heard this morning were like a lazy, subdued 'pitchu' with the two syllables merging into one. On call I would have said definite Marsh, on visual I would say not sure and now with your reply Andy Im definitely not sure!
I cant get down tomorrow for another look Andy - maybe you can and report back?
Cheers,
Matt.

Did any of the birds have a small white blob on its bill?

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Hi Matthew,

Sounds interesting.

I am afraid that I cannot check these out tomorrow as I am working in Norfolk but I will get over on Saturday morning.

Back in the early eighties I did have a single, out of range, Marsh Tit at Burton pits in hard weather such as we are having at present.

Hopefully the birds may stay around as there are fatball feeders up near the bench which they may be exploiting.

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Regards,

Andy.

The nearest Marsh Tits to Lincoln, tend to be in the Potterhamworth Wood area, I have never seen one within the city boundary, so this would indeed be a good record.

David

On call alone I would have sworn they were Marsh Tits. They were definitely calling "pitchu" albeit subdued and not as loud or as 'explosive' (Collins) as the ones in Potterhanworth Wood. However, Andy's observations of having not recorded them in the area for 30 years casts considerable doubt on my sightings.
I hope an expert can get down sometime and confirm my sighting.

Thanks
Matthew.

Spent a couple of hours at Boultham mere today, mainly in the area of the feeders.

Birds visiting the feeders were:-
1 or 2 Willow Tits, not calling but showing pale panel on secondaries.
Blue, Great & Long-tailed Tits.
Great Spotted Woodpeckers.
Robins.
Redwings feeding on ground below feeders.

Whilst I was stood there a Fox wandered past within 4 metres, seemingly not noticing me.

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Regards,

Andy.