After 9 or so visits to Darts Farm this last 30 days or so, I eventually caught up with the Penduline Tits today. I have photographed this species before in Devon at Paignton in 2009 but I only achieved a dismal result then so it was brilliant to have some success today. The 3 (possible even more were reported but that has never been proven), have been regularly visiting the Darts Farm wetland hide area. It has been frustrating though because it hasn't been a daily affair and somedays they have been absent altogether. I missed them again yesterday, this time by just a minute or two, (yet again) so when I went again this morning I had optimism but not a lot of confidence. Eventually after an hour or so, the call went up that they were here….. at last!

I was told by the other birders and photographers that they had shown better, and stayed for longer than they had ever done before so in the end, I was lucky and felt very privileged. I have got a bit of a thing about how we don't appreciate the common attractive birds and how rarity somehow makes a bird more attractive, that's nonsense of course but in this case, not having seen the species very well before, they seemed very appealing and interesting. I have been looking on a very interesting Spanish website to try and age and sex these 3 birds and it would appear that they are all female's of varying ages.  Have a look at the link here Sexing and ageing Penduline Tits.

Whether these three birds constitute a small family group is uncertain but you can decide for yourself. What was interesting was their feeding behaviour.

They would fly down from an adjacent tree to the Reed Mace…..(AKA Bullrush) and literally tear at the head of the mace. You would suspect that they were feeding on the seed contained within but in fact that isn't the case. They are in fact, searching for larvae hidden in the seed head and on several occasions I was lucky enough to see them with small moth larvae (see below). The first few photos show the more well marked bird. An adult female jusging by other photos I have seen?

 

The next few photos seem to show another female, this one with markings that are not as well defined, but then, lighting can have such a large effect on photographs.

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The next pictures show the less well marked of the three birds….is this a first winter female?

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The next photograph is bird number 2

 

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Penduline Tits are a rare winter migrant in the UK with just a few sightings every winter. They don't breed here which is a mystery and one of those interesting facts that can't be explained. They are common in other parts of Europe, both north and south so climate can't be a factor. The last Penduline Tit seen in Devon was in 2009 and when I looked at photographs of the bird it seemed to confirm that the three here at the moment are females.