A Tit-tastic Morning at Reculver!

I didn't venture out until 9.30am this morning where I had a drive over to Reculver and walked down the seawall towards Coldharbour. The winds were quite light and although a little cloudy, the sun did eventually break through to a nice morning. I had planned to walk the circuit inland at Chambers Wall but in the end only made it as far as the green wall. As I walked down the seawall I noted 2 Little Egret, 2 Rock Pipit, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Kestrel, c300 Brent Geese out in the fields, 6 Goldfinch, c10 Skylark, 2 Stonechat, c40 Golden Plover, 4 Reed Bunting, c15 Meadow Pipit, 3 Redshank, 1 Little Owl and as I neared the green wall junction I could hear the sound of Bearded Tit 'pinging' from the reedbeds. I thought this would be today's mission and spent the next hour walking up and down the reedbeds getting glimpses of them as they moved through. Ocasionally 6 Bearded Tit, 3 males would fly up out of the reeds and look like they were going to fly off high but they always returned. This is quite a scare bird at Reculver and although annual, you only get a few chances to see them during the year. My perseverance paid off in the end when they appeared briefly in an area where I could get some shots.

Female Bearded Tit 

Male Bearded Tit

The problem with this species is that there is always a reed in the way but I suppose it adds to the shot. The males normally stayed a little lower than the females but luckily one male gave me the chance to get a pleasing effort of this lovely little bird.

Male Bearded Tit

With a few shots I left them in peace and made my way back towards the car. There were a few Chaffinch flocks moving along the seawall which included c50 birds and Starlings got going later in the morning when a few large flocks totaling c3000 birds moved west. With the clocks going back early tomorrow morning i'm hoping for an early start and perhaps a few birds to be seen and photographed.

Female Bearded Tit