Coal Tits

[Chas]

I set up a hide in my garden close to a feeder to get some nice portraits, or so I hoped. Oddly all I seem to get visiting are Coal Tits. We do have other tits around, I hear them constantly but by far the most predominant species are Coal Tits. Is anyone else finding this or is this just a local anomaly?
Oh, and here is one of them at around noon today.

[Jason Green]

Personally I only see coalies approaching Winter, so a very unusual sight in my area. How long were you waiting?

[Ollie]

Lovely shot Chas.
The Coal Tits aren't the most numerous tits in our garden, the Blue and Great far outnumber the Coal at the present. We seem to get a couple of Coal Tits for a few days then they vanish for a while.
Roger

[Chas]

Originally Posted by Jason Green

How long were you waiting?

Well they feed most mornings and then as I go into my hide they a not really put off and are back again within minutes. They are here constantly and have been for the last 3 weeks or so. Last year they were first seen in my garden on January 9th (I keep accurate records), so I am surprised by their constant presence this year and by the lack of other tit species apart fro the odd Blue and Great now and again.

[Jason Green]

Sounds interesting. I like the idea of your record keeping, anything unusual?

RE other tit spp, do you ever get Long-tails?

[demicav]

Nice pic. We usually get quite a few Coal Tits in the colder months. I know last Winter they were a regular visitor then they disappeared in the Summer (along with some other species). No sign of them yet so I will keep an eye out for them.

[Chas]

Originally Posted by Jason Green

Sounds interesting. I like the idea of your record keeping, anything unusual?

RE other tit spp, do you ever get Long-tails?

Yes we had a Redpoll in February, and a Grey Wagtail 2 years before. We havn't had LongTail Tits yet at all this year although I know they are common in the hedge rows etc locally. No sparrows either!
Have a look at my Blog for more details of all my sightings in the garden and the locality.

Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

[Jason Green]

Will do. Grey Wags must be nice. A redpoll? I would have assumed that's quite unusual. I'll look at your blog

[Rich_]

I have noticed that there are a lot of coal tits in our garden on the feeders this year, I have never seen so many.We always get an odd one but there are four or five at a time this year.

[Morph]

Although I have already said this in another thread I'm going to post it again.

On another websites bird forum it was thought there has been a fall of Coal Tits this year and because the bird is fairly common anyway the increase in birds was being overlooked. The posts in this thread so far seems to bear this out.
I haven't noticed an increase but it would be good if everyone would post if they have or haven't noticed any change.