Long Tailed Tit

Last autumn has proved to be a major success for one member of the ‘Tit’ family in our tiny corner of West Sussex.

The long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus) is easily recognisable with its distinctive colouring, a tail that is bigger than its body, and undulating flight. Gregarious and noisy residents, long-tailed tits are most usually noticed in small, excitable flocks of about 20 birds. Like most tits, they rove the woods and hedgerows, but are also seen on heaths and commons with suitable bushes. They eat insects and seeds and can be found throughout England and Wales apart from the far north – rarely ever seen in Scotland.

We were sent some Sunflower Hearts (the centre part of the seed with the outer case removed) by Twootz and they have proved to be amazingly popular with all the small birds at our feeding stations – now the word has got around and it is now fairly common to see about a dozen of the long-tails taking the sunflower hearts together in a noisy group or devouring the fat balls.

Just a few years back they were a rare sight and my children referred to them as the ‘lollipop birds’ because of the long, long tails. They are tiny, weighing in at 7-9g (that is a quarter of an ounce to us oldies) and have a total length of about 15cm (6 inches). Other names include ‘silver throated tit’ and ‘silver-throated dasher’.