Durham Bird Club at 50
The county avifauna, The Birds of Durham (Bowey and Newsome, 2012) records that “A public meeting in late 1974 at Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery to discuss bird watching and recording was well-attended. This was followed on 8 January 1975 by another meeting and enrolment for membership of the Durham Bird Club began shortly afterwards.”
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We shall be organising various projects and events during the year to commemorate this special anniversary. These include a "Bird of the Week" feature, appearing below.
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Bird of the Week - Week 48
Long-tailed Tit - Winter’s Restless Wanderer
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​​(Photo by Mark Harper)​​​
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Long-tailed Tits bring a bit of cheer to even the dullest winter day. Tiny, round-bodied and impossibly light, they move through trees and hedgerows in excitable family parties, keeping up a constant chorus of soft, contact calls as they forage. One moment a bush seems empty, the next it’s alive with movement - a dozen birds flicking through the branches like drifting feathers with tails.
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In County Durham, Long-tailed Tits remain widespread across woodland, parks, gardens and hedgerows, and despite the challenges of cold winters, they generally continue to do well where habitat is connected and food is available. Their small size gives them a fragile reputation, but their cooperative lifestyle - travelling, roosting and even nesting in extended family groups - helps them cope with tough conditions. Recent years’ milder winters have also been favourable, with no evidence of any decline locally.
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Their nests are among the true wonders of our breeding birds: elastic domes of moss, spider silk and lichen, soft-lined with hundreds of tiny feathers. Although these structures won’t reappear until spring, the birds you see now are often the same family groups that built them months ago, staying together well into winter.
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At this time of year, Long-tailed Tits often roam more widely, joining mixed flocks of Blue Tits, Great Tits and Goldcrests as they work through the scrub and tree canopy in search of insects and eggs. If you hear a chorus of thin “tsee-tsee-tsee” notes moving steadily along a hedgerow, they’re probably close by.
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Have you had a flock pass through your garden or local patch yet this week? They’re one of the small joys of winter birding - lively, sociable and always welcome.
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More information on Long-tailed Tits
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E-mail: admin@durhambirdclub.org.uk
Social media tags: #DBC #DBCat50 #DurhamBirdClub #BirdoftheWeek #Durham #Birding
#BirdwatchingUK #CountyDurhamBirds
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