Willow Tit and Marsh Tit

Time for a birding interlude. With the arrival of some clear, crisp, wintry weather at last, I went out yesterday to tramp round a few of my usual haunts. First, though, I had a couple of bits of shopping to do, and on the way back I stopped the car in a little layby to take a phone call. As I finished, I saw a little group of tits come into the back of the hedge next to the car, so I got my bins on them (having first wound down the window).

After at least five minutes of watching them intently, I'd pretty much decided they were Marsh Tits. The black caps didn't look particularly glossy, but then they were in a spot where they weren't getting much light. The black bibs looked on the small side, on the whole, and there were no obvious pale wing panels. They also didn't have the bull-headed look you expect from Willow Tits. Some showed the pale spot at the base of the bill that's recently been flagged up as a particularly distinctive ID mark, and while others seemed not to, that again might have been a trick of the light. I was pretty pleased, because Marsh Tits aren't always easy to get round my way (or at least, I don't have a definite regular site for them as I do with Willow Tits).

My one regret was that I didn't have my camera handy - it was still in the boot and I knew that if I got out to fetch it, they'd fly away. But, just to confirm my ID, a couple of the birds gave that unmistakeable 'pitchoo' call.

I went on to that regular Willow Tit site I mentioned, Kelham Bridge, near Coalville. At the first hide, there were plenty of small birds round the main set of feeders, and I could hear Willow Tits calling close at hand (a sort of 'si, si, tchaay, tchaay' sound) as I arrived. They quickly started coming in, one by one, to the smaller feeder, and I managed to get a few shots, most of them useless, because I'm not much of a photographer. But one or two, like the one above, were OK.

These, on the whole, were much more bull-headed birds, immediately suggesting Willow Tit. The size of the bibs, though, was very variable, as was the prominence of the pale wing panel. Willow Tits are also supposed to have all-white cheeks, while Marsh Tits' cheeks are browner where they meet the nape, but the five or six birds that came close seemed to show both extremes and everything in-between. Finally, one bird also seemed to have a pale spot at the base of its bill - only after keeping a close eye on it as it flitted to and from the feeders could I see that it was not a permanent marking, but a fleck of frost or something similar (it eventually disappeared). Had there not been so much calling going on (exclusively Willow Tit) I might have been really baffled.

What it goes to show, I think, is that there's probably no such thing as a typical member of any species. However good a field guide is, it's just that, a guide, showing what might be termed the average individual, and you can expect all sorts of variation around that supposed constant. Admittedly, it might not be as obvious in other species, but that's probably just because you tend to look at Willow/Marsh Tits closer than most, because of the risk of misidentification.

Willow Tits, incidentally, are in serious decline, so it's nice to be able to see them on a pretty regular basis. Marsh Tits are much commoner, on a national level, but locally they've tended to be the harder to find.