A Battle with a Coal Tit at The Lodge

15th December 2014

It has been so mild and birds so scarce that expectations were not too high when I visited The Lodge for the last time in 2014. Unfortunately my expectations proved correct with just a few tits round the feeders by the car park and nothing of note on the information board, so I set of for the Meadow Hide to see if there was any activity around the feeders and ponds.

This area was also very quiet without the usual procession of Lesser Redpolls and Siskins to the feeders and then down on to the pond for a drink. Even the resident Great Spotted Woodpecker only put in one appearance and that was before the sun moved round to illuminate the area. In fact initially the only sign of life was a Grey Squirrel who managed to succeed in getting some food despite the squirrel protection on view. Love them or loathe them, who can resist photographing a Grey Squirrel?

Luckily, to make up for the general lack of birds, the one bird that was making several visits to the closest feeder was a Coal Tit. In my experience Coal Tits can be difficult to photograph. I refuse to photograph any bird on a feeder, but Coal Tits tend to fly straight on to the feeder without perching nearby first. This particular individual was no exception but did occasionally perch first, but just for a few nano-seconds. However after a couple of hours I did manage to get a few shots which are probably the best I have taken so far.