Marsh and Willow Tits in northern Surrey
This morning's visit to Juniper Top/Bottom revealed a minimum of four Marsh Tits, two of which were in full song. Whenever I come across this species I cannot help but think back to my formative birding years and the presence in north Surrey of their close relative, the Willow Tit.
It was not difficult to find Willow Tits back in the mid 1970s. I used to go to Epsom Common and be guaranteed of coming across several birds, mostly between Stamford Green and the smaller Stew Pond (the larger pond had not been flooded back then). If you continued onto Ashtead Common you would also find them. The Surrey Bird Reports of the time mention birds being recorded from 20+ sites and reveal that a study in the Oxshott area produced 24 breeding pairs in 1978. I was also able to find them during the summer months on Walton Heath and Headley Heath. Because the local population was relatively healthy, wandering birds could be found from time to time, with my recording of singles at Beddington SF on 12 September 1978 and 17 June 1979 (this bird being trapped), plus one at Nonsuch Park on 25 September 1983. Little did I know that my sightings on Epsom Common in 1989 were to be my last in Surrey - at least it seems likely that this will be the case, unless there remains an undetected bird somewhere off the beaten track.
So, the Willow Tit is consigned to a Surrey birding memory, along with the likes of Grey Partridges, Turtle Doves, Tree Sparrows, Corn Buntings and Cirl Buntings - all species that I could go out and see in the county without too much effort in my teenage years. It's enough to make we weep...
Marsh Tits are still doing well. On the North Downs, between Gatton and Ranmore, they are easy to find. I can get double-figure counts in the Juniper Top/Bottom area. There are outposts further north, but these are showing signs of losing their birds. Banstead Woods used to be a regular haunt but it has recently proved hard to find them there. This year I have found them increasingly difficult to record on Walton Heath, although with a little effort one has given itself up - but just the one! The long term prospect for this species at these sites is not good, particularly from Banstead. But this morning, surrounded by their song and calls, it was easy to assume that, unlike the Willow Tit, the Marsh Tit is here to stay. I do hope so.
It was not difficult to find Willow Tits back in the mid 1970s. I used to go to Epsom Common and be guaranteed of coming across several birds, mostly between Stamford Green and the smaller Stew Pond (the larger pond had not been flooded back then). If you continued onto Ashtead Common you would also find them. The Surrey Bird Reports of the time mention birds being recorded from 20+ sites and reveal that a study in the Oxshott area produced 24 breeding pairs in 1978. I was also able to find them during the summer months on Walton Heath and Headley Heath. Because the local population was relatively healthy, wandering birds could be found from time to time, with my recording of singles at Beddington SF on 12 September 1978 and 17 June 1979 (this bird being trapped), plus one at Nonsuch Park on 25 September 1983. Little did I know that my sightings on Epsom Common in 1989 were to be my last in Surrey - at least it seems likely that this will be the case, unless there remains an undetected bird somewhere off the beaten track.
So, the Willow Tit is consigned to a Surrey birding memory, along with the likes of Grey Partridges, Turtle Doves, Tree Sparrows, Corn Buntings and Cirl Buntings - all species that I could go out and see in the county without too much effort in my teenage years. It's enough to make we weep...
Marsh Tits are still doing well. On the North Downs, between Gatton and Ranmore, they are easy to find. I can get double-figure counts in the Juniper Top/Bottom area. There are outposts further north, but these are showing signs of losing their birds. Banstead Woods used to be a regular haunt but it has recently proved hard to find them there. This year I have found them increasingly difficult to record on Walton Heath, although with a little effort one has given itself up - but just the one! The long term prospect for this species at these sites is not good, particularly from Banstead. But this morning, surrounded by their song and calls, it was easy to assume that, unlike the Willow Tit, the Marsh Tit is here to stay. I do hope so.
Comments
Last year a neighbouring shooting farmer put out 400 Grey Parts. and briefly their calls were heard again but I suspect most were shot.
In Hertfordshire, as a child/teenager, Willow Tits were widespread all around the woodlands of Hemel Hempstead. Roughdown Common, at Boxmoor was a fantastic place to see these birds, they excavating their nest holes in the rotting stumps of Elder bushes. Again, as mirrored by the populations of most southern counties, they are but now a memory of us old-uns!
The cause of this decline will be very subjective, but bet your bottom dollar that it is a man-made problem, or combination?
The fact that woodlands are now tidied, thus the removal of rotting stumps and the like, is very likely to have some impact on the nest site availability of these dainty little birds, although climate change, thus a northward shift in distribution, would be my starting point should I ever wish to get into a research project?
Hoping you are well - Dyl