Long tailed tits - lack of

[old soldier]

Was wondering why i have not seen any long tailed tits (yet), in my garden. Had a couple of regular visitors last year. Just heard that the initial results of the rspb count shows that small bodied birds incl the ltt, did not do well over the hard winter we have just had. Has anyone else noticed a lack of in their garden? - Brian

[artdemole]

Ltt's have not been back to my feeder station since all snow went.I have seen them flying over and in shrubs at the paddock at rear of bungalow..

[old soldier]

To be honest mine disappeared after, about 100,000 starlings attacked everything edible last summer, well i slight exaggeration i suppose, but there were definatrely 30 plus!!

[Rashmika]

We had a group of 4 to 6 Long Tailed Tits regularly visiting our suet feeders even through the winter.

They are quite the characters and do tend to get cross when I pop out to do some gardening (yes they shout at me).

Sadly I've had to ditch the suet feeders for now as there was too much spillage. I had seen a rat in the garden a couple of times, but over the weekend I saw a rat in one of my coconut feeders.

I gave it such a fright that as it was running away at full pelt, it jumped. Unfortunately it couldn't control its forward momentum and hurtled into the fence with an enormous thud. It bounced off the fence and landed nearly half a metre backwards before eluding me.

Anyway, all the feeders were removed and I've put some allegedly "animal proof" ones in their place. They've got a nice dish to catch spillage and hopefully ratty (and even squirrel) will have to go hungry and my garden birds will get their dinner in peace.

[GothicSquirrel]

I have had 6-10 in my garden through most of the winter and they're still going strong. This is the first year I've noticed them (although I wasn't exactly looking in previous years)

[Stinky Bob]

I rarely get them in the garden but often hear them by the river and last week found one of their nests in a rambling rose, beautifully made bower type

[aeshna5]

Still plenty around London, though our severe weather was less prolonged than other parts. Certainly fewer Goldcrests, but numbers were low before the freeze compared with the previous year.

[shirl]

We usually get them 2/3 times a year in the garden then it goes quiet, but this year there are a couple of them here every day. They only seem to be feeding from a suet block which I have hanging on a tree. Fingers crossed they will be breeding here.

Shirl

[Sprout]

last year we had a flock of about 8-10 which used to sweep in and sweep out again in about 5 minutes. this year so far, we have 2. i'm hopeful we'll have more as the spring/summer progresses.

[Jim Ford]

I hate long tailed tits!

By the time I've got my camera when I see them enter the garden, they've disappeared into next door's garden. Just to rub it in, any stragglers fly across the garden without stopping.

Jim