RecoveringScot
Well-known member
Saw a Brambling a minute or two ago:
Perhaps the fact they are still around in snowed up Finland is the clue: they don't reach Britain because they don't move for anything. Makes the colonies in the Highlands even more odd.Crested Tit this morning. Why these birds seem to be common on the continent and remain so unusual and local in the UK is a puzzle. I have seen now Crested Tit at every webcam I watch, even snowed up Finland.
Could be. The Speyside group might be a relict population, a more widespread distribution having shrunk over previous centuries. I don't know what the thinking about that question is these days. All the other Tits seem to have survived changes in the environment (although Willow's status in Scotland is 'questionable' I believe). Has it, that is, Crested, ever been recorded in England in modern times?Perhaps the fact they are still around in snowed up Finland is the clue: they don't reach Britain because they don't move for anything. Makes the colonies in the Highlands even more odd.
John
Very, very infrequently (contrasting with, for instance, Continental Coal tits which are annual during migration): there are a couple of documented records and I am aware of one probable one that followed a few days after the 1987 storm that tore across Northwestern France and South-Eastern England and ruined Michael Fish's weather forecasting reputation.Could be. The Speyside group might be a relict population, a more widespread distribution having shrunk over previous centuries. I don't know what the thinking about that question is these days. All the other Tits seem to have survived changes in the environment (although Willow's status in Scotland is 'questionable' I believe). Has it, that is, Crested, ever been recorded in England in modern times?
Interesting, thanks.Very, very infrequently (contrasting with, for instance, Continental Coal tits which are annual during migration): there are a couple of documented records and I am aware of one probable one that followed a few days after the 1987 storm that tore across Northwestern France and South-Eastern England and ruined Michael Fish's weather forecasting reputation.
John
AFAIK only a couple of Marsh Tits and not a single Willow Tit has made it across the Irish Sea, not even the short hop from Kintyre, this century. So it seems tit species don't like to travelInteresting, thanks.
Yet Blue Tits make it to Shetland. I'm surprised that the Cresties haven't spread with feeders along river valleys.AFAIK only a couple of Marsh Tits and not a single Willow Tit has made it across the Irish Sea, not even the short hop from Kintyre, this century. So it seems tit species don't like to travel
There's usually not a thing when I look. However, when I choose a random moment in the past, there's always some interesting bird. Past > present??Blue Tits and Great Tits at least are pretty migratory on the continent.
Have looked at the webcam a couple of random times - absolutely nada!
Pheasants currently!There's usually not a thing when I look. However, when I choose a random moment in the past, there's always some interesting bird. Past > present??