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We have restarted colour ringing of bearded tits at Leighton Moss after a gap of a few years caused by a combination of availability of key personnel, covid and avian flu. This will give us a far better understanding of the population, reeding success, how they cope with events likely to cause mortality such as long freezes or prolonged winter flooding, and how the population moves around the area and hopefully even colonises new sites. Lately we’ve only had anecdotal impressions of abundance and two sample plots for the standard method, so our impression is they have been doing well the last 3-4 years but we cannot quantify that currently. Already 40 birds have been colour ringed and there are a lot more out there at the moment!
I’d be grateful for anyone who sees a colour ringed bearded tit to let me know the ring combination, or send a photo, so I can add it to our records, especially if seen away from the Causeway grit trays. The attached photo explains the colour ring combinations. [email protected] is my email
Elsewhere, on 18th Nov an impressive 322 Snipe were counted across the whole reserve suite of Wetlands, including 244 on the Eric Morecambe complex alone. A minimum of 13 great white egret are spread across the reserve and at least one cattle egret roosting at Leighton and feeding near Crag Bank. A water pipit was near the skytower on 15th. Daily bittern sightings in flight and still bearded tits regularly seen at the grit trays.
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