30th November - Thorney Island, West Sussex

Ian and I postponed our normal Saturday trip to the Sunday due to the horrendous forecast for Saturday.  As it turns out it wasn't as bad as predicted, however Sunday morning arrived with clear skies and a cold temperature, the light was fantastic as I headed south.  We were meeting just over the county border at Thorney Island.  Bearded Tits have been far and few between in Hampshire and there were good reports of a sizeable flock on the west side of Thorney.

We walked to the sea wall through a small nature reserve called Marina Farm.  It was created in 2022 from an old farm that was basically a dumping ground for old machinery and cars.  It is now a collection of bramble, bushes and open ground and the beginnings of a small copse.  What was positive were the numbers of Goldfinch feeding on the seed heads and Blackbirds, Robins and Wrens present.

Climbing up on to the sea wall we were greeted with this sight.  The tide was falling and the water in Chichester Harbour was dead still all the way to Emsworth.

Out on the water were several Wigeon, good numbers of Canada and Brent Geese.  Looking inland a Pintail flew past and a distant Marsh Harrier cruised south.  It didn't take long before we heard the "ping" calls of Bearded Tits and then we found a sizeable flock feeding on the reed seed heads quite close to the footpath.

The light wasn't good as we were looking into the rising sun in the east.  We had to move to get the best angle.  Despite this the golden light highlighted the birds in a special way.  Another challenge was by going side on the sunshine came into the view finder so i wasn't sure what I was actually taking and it wasn't until I got home that I saw the results.  As always the focus is on the male.

The male Bearded Tit is cinnamon-brown with a long, brown tail. It has a rotund body and a light grey head, white throat, and a black drooping 'moustache' (rather than a beard) and a yellow bill and eyes. 

The birds were very active and would climb the reed stems and then when they reached the seed head their weight would bring the reed stem down.  It was then a case of trying to focus through the reeds, some didn't work and I was left with blurred images, but a lot did.

Sometimes the blur from the reeds enhanced the image.

Now for some information about these dainty little birds.  It is frequently known as the Bearded Tit , as it historically was believed to be closely related to tits or parrotbills. Today it is known to lack close relatives and it is the only species in the family Panuridae.  As it is not seen as a tit, the name more frequently used is Bearded Reedling, although I struggle with this and will always use the name Bearded Tit.

The Bearded Tit was scientifically described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in his 10th edition of Systema Naturae. He placed it with the tits in the genus Parus and coined the binomial name Parus biarmicus.  Linnaeus based his entry on the "beardmanica or bearded tit-mouse" that had been described and illustrated in 1731 by the English naturalist Eleazar Albin and the "least butcher-bird" that had been described and illustrated in 1747 by George Edwards. 

The Bearded Tit or Reedling was then later moved from the tit family and placed with the parrotbills in the family Paradoxornithidae. Subsequent authors variously classified the species as a member of Muscicapidae (Old World flycatchers), Sylviidae (typical warblers) or Timaliidae (Old World babbler).  Molecular phylogenetic studies show that it is a unique passerine, not part of any of these families. The Bearded Tit or Reedling is now placed in the monotypic family Panuridae that was introduced in 1860 (as the subfamily Panurinae) by Marc Athanase Parfait Œillet Des Murs.  It lacks close relatives, but it is nearest to the lark family Alaudidae. 

Bearded Tits feed mostly on insects, grass seeds and occasionally berries. During the summer breeding season they mainly consume invertebrates such as insects, snails, caterpillars and mayflies. In the winter, they change their diet as the number of available invertebrates drop, and they begin to feed mainly on seeds high up on the reed stems. Bearded Tits can also be seen ingesting grit to help grind up the tough shells of the seeds, which is why on certain reserves you may see bird tables with grit on them in the middle of a reed bed.  They have an unsteady flight with irregular shallow undulations and whirring wingbeats and can frequently be seen flying across the top of the reeds.

They moved up and down and through the reeds, the occasional "ping" keeping the flock together.foraging all the time and performing their own brand of acrobatics.

It was enjoyable watching them and we did so for at least a good hour and a half, always hoping for that killer shot, but not knowing if we had got it.  There are a lot of good ones here though.

As I wrote earlier sometimes hiding behind the reeds and stems can add to the scene.

Females are less colourful than males and therefore less attractive to the photographers.  They are buffish-brown in colour, and do not have the moustache. Juveniles are very similar to adult females, but have black backs and black areas on their tail. Their plumage is more yellowish-buff. 

This looks more like a juvenile bird moulting into the adult male plumage.  The grey head and black streaking, but also the yellow bill.

While this one is definitely an adult female.

As a crowd started to congregat ewe decided to walk south along the sea wall.  The tide was out and there was plenty of mud where we could see Dunlin, Redshank, Grey Plover and Curlew.  The geese were constantly calling as they grazed on the mud.  The Brent the noisiest.

On the other side of the path is what is known as the Deeps and large open water lake where there were a lot of Coot, but these Shelduck flew over heading for the harbour.

And there were a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers fishing close to the path.

We had no intention of walking around the island so turned back.  The light was better now and there were not so many people about so w e settled in to try once again with the Bearded Tits.  This one male showed very well iin a gap in the reeds.

Having taken our fill of the Bearded Tits we walked back to the cars and had lunch.  We then walked the main road towards the military camp to scan the fields.  Everything was so distant and it was quiet on my last visit here in 2021 we had watched Short-eared Owls from these vantage points, but there was nothing today.  What we did see was a huge flock of Golden Plover and they looked closer to the east sea wall.  So we turned back and walked out there.  We had to negotiate a flood from the Sewerage works and when we eventually reach ed the sea wall we realised we were still about the same distance away.  All we had from this walk was a Sparrowhawk that flew at us about six inches above the path and a Stonechat.

We made our way back through the water once again and decided to call it a day and head home inthe sunshine.  It was mission accomplished with the Bearded Tits.