Tuesday, March 12, 2024
I walked the river path, which winds through leggy pines with neck-breakingly high canopies - a difficult habitat when searching for a tiny bird. Crossbills diverted me time and again, being very vocal and sometimes visible.
But I failed utterly in my quest to re-find a small bird that I spotted here yesterday. I hadn't been looking particularly for it at the time, but it's always in my mind here because of our sighting of two back in November 2016. When I heard sibilant calls high above I turned and scanned the conifer with my bins, expecting to see only coal tits; one bird had come out onto the end of a twig and although it was silhouetted against the sky I clearly saw a crest. Next moment it had vanished! I scanned desperately with my head tilted back - a position I got used to in Burnham Beeches woods when looking for lesser spotted woodpeckers. I did glimpse it once or twice, and finally just clicked off into the pine tree where I thought it was. But it moved so fast that I managed only two poor pics to show it was a crested tit!
I returned to the river walk this morning with no hope really of relocating the tit - it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. But I enjoyed my walk, and as well as the crossbills saw siskins, chaffinch, red kite, wren, grey wagtail, and dipper. Stopping briefly at the dam on the drive home I failed to see any snow buntings, but did spot three bullfinches feeding in nearby larches.