Absolutely fascinating to watch the coal tit processing seed at the bird feeder, chucking things everywhere!  I thought at first that it was a great tit, but the little black flick of colour from the crown, the lack of a stripe on the chest and a slender beak are key differentiators from the great tit, as is the smaller size.  Although there have been some impressive aerobatics over the last few days there was none of that today – the focus was all on the seeds. I know when they are around because of the high-pitched “peep” that they utter whenever they are in the vicinity.

According to one of my books, the Reader’s Digest Field Guide to Birds, in old Icelandic the word tittr meant a small bird or anything small, and tit is a corrupted survivor of that word.

This is my first attempt to use one of my cameras to shoot a video of anything in motion, and it’s all very amateurish.  The camera is a little Fuji, not designed for anything very ambitious, but it hasn’t done a bad job.  Apologies for the wobble and the clunky zooming in!  I want to do some videos in and around Aberdovey, so I am practising on the bird life in my garden.  The robin visits every day, and gives me endless pleasure whilst he eats at my bird feeder. As with many small birds at this time of year, his plumage has been a disgrace for several weeks (for reasons explained in an earlier post), but it is slowly beginning to sort itself out.  Two house sparrows and two coal tits have also become regular visitors, one presumably juvenile sparrow with a permanently bad feather day, but it’s the robin that has made the bird feeder a second home.  Robins are highly territorial and usually see off other birds.  This one was willing to share the bird feeder with a couple of sparrows for a few days, but things have become rather more tense in the last few days and there have been a couple of scuffles.  The sparrows are not deterred, but they keep a wary eye on the robin.

Apparently the male sings throughout the winter, except during the current moulting time.  I’ll have to wait and see whether mine eventually bursts into song.  I learned today that the robin became Britain’s National Bird in 1960.

Just click the arrow to  play.  The noise in the background is my printer.