Thread by @ptarmiganthony

THREAD: Over the past 2 months I've been working as the @NatureBftB Willow Tit Researcher in South Yorkshire's Dearne Valley. I've spent my time ringing and radio-tracking these enigmatic little birds, and I thought I'd share with you what they get up to

BIRB SCIENCE INCOMING!

The first bird I caught and tracked back in February was Red-White. This was a young, probably female bird. It spent most of it's time at Pools Ings near Royston, and visited some feeders in a lovely couple's garden. Red-White was very secretive and I barely saw it while tracking

Red-White was often in the company of a singing male, which I was able to very quickly catch. This was Red-Grey. Unfortunately Red-Grey managed to get the radio-tag within about 10 minutes! Some birds just don't want to science🤷

Red-Grey evaded recapture ever after, so I shifted focus to Wilthorpe in Barnsley where I'd gotten a tip off from @Barnsleybsg there was a singing male. I caught a pair and these were Orange-Blue (male) and Orange-Red (female).

Orange-Blue was tracked over 5 days and provided a lot of data. It spent most of its time in old hawthorn hedges and bramble, but also seemed to like foraging in nearby conifers, which is what I guess Willow Tits do in Scandinavia?

Orange-Red the (probable) female bird was a bit wee for carrying a radio-tag, but I did see its colour-rings a few times while tracking Orange-Blue.

Into March now and I caught my 5th Willow Tit at Park Hill near Wombwell. This was Baby Blue-Red and it was a 2nd year male in great condition; loads of fat and good muscle mass. I had thought it was territorial but it proceeded on a grand tour of the Dearne Valley!

BB-R spent a morning at Park Hill and then skipped over to Broomhill. The next day it was at Carr Head north of @RSPB_OldMoor, and the day after that taking in a spot of golf around Manvers. After 3 days I completely lost track of it and have no idea where it went.

My role is actually maternity cover, and my excellent predecessor Vivien caught and tracked 2 Willow Tits, Blue-Blue and Pale Blue-Blue along Warbler Way at the end of 2018.

So there you have it: a brief glimpse into the lives of one of our most threatened bird species. Hopefully the data Vivien and I collected this year (and last year) will help towards planning habitat management and the future of this endemic subspecies. naturebftb.co.uk/2017/11/07/wha…

Thank you so much to Barnsley's birders for being so welcoming and helpful during this project, and in particular to @SophiePinderYWT @GeoffCarrEco @CliffGorman47 and @RussBoland. I've a few habitat surveys to go then I'm away back to Scotland for more birdy adventures

#monthetits!

This should be: get the radio-tag off! I think I put a slightly too large harness on.

And thank you to @woodlandbirder for providing some explanation for its travels 😊