Long-tailed Tit

Birds in the snow

A couple of weeks ago we had some snow, not a lot, but it lasted for about a week and consequently things got a bit hard for our feathered friends.

Birds such as the Waxwing are used to harsh weather, coming from the European Tundra, but they were struggling to find the now depleted berries on which they feast. A few weeks ago these birds were everywhere, but now the reports are getting fewer and it is thought that they have moved off to Europe.

Waxwing

Waxwing

The Grey Heron is a familiar sight, but the one below looked decidedly 'miffed' at all this white stuff, curtailing his fishing exploits somewhat.

Grey Heron

The gardeners friend, the Robin is adept at using us humans to find food, hanging around while we dig the borders and jumping down from his perch in order to grab a tasty morsel or two.

Robin

Times are hard for Owls at the moment, numbers of the Barn Owl are in freefall due to the wet summer and with snow on the ground they find it very hard to hunt.

Barn Owl

My wife's favourite, the badger bird comes into the garden with a couple of his mates, feeds on the fatballs and is gone in a few seconds. A lot of these small birds won't survive long periods of cold.

Long-tailed Tit

The snow has now gone and some spring like weather has arrived. The birds are starting to sing more and several are starting to check out the nest boxes, just in time for another cold snap at the end of the week.

The long and the short of it

A tiny round bird with a long narrow tail, rather short rounded wings and a stubby bill. The Long-tailed Tit is pinkish brown above and pinkish white below, ` a ball of fluff ` and quite possibly one of the U.K.`s most adorable birds. We are lucky in that we have had up to four of these little birds visiting our garden in Peterborough for the past few months and they show no signs of stopping with Spring arriving .

They start to make their nests in late March which are made from moss, lichen and are bound together with cobwebs. They are lined with lots of feathers. The nest is almost ` elastic ` in construction and expands when the young inside grow. Some adults that have failed to rear their young to fledging can help feed a neighbouring family, this is most common amongst the male birds.

A lovely little bird that my wife calls ` Badger birds `.