Last year in the Spring and early Summer the level of bird noise at Rosemary Lane was absolutely extraordinary. Some species are much easier to identify than others so this year I have done what I’ve been meaning to do for years and commissioned a proper bird survey. So thanks to Robin for this record of his first visit at dawn in early March and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.
KS
“In early March, with the temperature below freezing and some mist lingering in places, it might seem a little premature to be carrying out the first breeding bird survey in these woods on Rosemary Lane, but contrary to the conditions on this particular morning, our climate is warming and changing, so March is an important month for locating and mapping some of our resident species who happen to be amongst our early breeders.
The woods this morning are also home to some migrant species, including the Redwing (Turdus iliacas), which will shortly be departing for countries to the north that are still firmly in the grip of proper winters, winters of the kind that seem to elude us these days in south east England, but it is the resident species that most interest me this morning.
Amongst the Chaffinches, Blackbirds, Robins and Wrens there are, of course, the tits, of which there are five species in Rosemary Lane, one of which I am keen to locate today, the Marsh Tit (Poecile palustris). Amongst the more numerous calls of its relatives, the Blue and the Great Tit, I hear the call and song of a Marsh Tit and later on find another feeding in some birches. Two records, separated by some distance, makes me think that we might have two pairs in Park Copse. Two pairs? In sixteen hectares? Is that all? Well, I might have asked that question just a few weeks before, but then I read a wonderful and recently written book on the species and its very near relative, the Willow Tit (Poecile montanus), which is, sadly, now extinct in Surrey, Sussex (and many other counties too) and that has made me look at this little bird in a different light. The Marsh Tit, it seems, has and has always had, a different life strategy to that of the more numerous Blue and Great Tits, which can exist at densities up to ten times greater than the Marsh Tit. For the Marsh Tits that I have seen today this wood, and the surrounding woods and hedgerows, really are their whole world and they are unlikely to stray too far from it, so their apparent low density is their way of ensuring that their territories throughout the year can provide them with all they need, including in terms of food. Although they will visit bird tables, they are much less likely to move across open ground and visit our well stocked garden bird feeders than the Blue and the Great Tits, who have taken a different and, perhaps, more successful approach to life in the twenty first century world much modified by humans: Marsh Tit numbers are in decline, by as much as 80% over the period 1967-2022 according to the British Trust for Ornithology and so are now on the Red List for birds, whilst Blue and Great Tit populations have increased during the same period.
The life instincts that these little birds are born with undoubtedly play a big part in deciding how their lives will pan out and, perhaps the Marsh Tit’s strategy of remaining faithful to one place and upon its own resourcefulness and ingenuity was more suited to a time before habitat fragmentation and loss, as well as many other factors that human beings have an influence on. Consequently, on this chilly March morning, amongst more numerous calls and songs, it is the less frequent interactions with the Marsh Tit that have warmed me the most. Incidentally, the Marsh Tit is a contender for having the most inappropriate name of any of our bird species because it really is a bird of our woodlands, places such as these woods in Alfold and the wider Chiddingfold Forest, precious places to be cherished and managed for future generations both of humans and, hopefully, for Poecile palustris.”
Robin, March 2025
Photo from iStock
* Richard Broughton “The Marsh Tit and the Willow Tit” published by T & A D Poyser