Winters deadly for lively long-tailed tits

THIS winter a small flock of long-tailed tits has become a regular visitor to my bird feeding station.

They’ve rapidly become favourites. It’s not just the way they look — the tiny, walnut-shaped body, the absurdly long, thin tail and the faint flush of pink on the underparts — it’s also the way they behave. They’re acrobatic, full of vitality and display impeccable manners in their interactions with other birds.

Another reason I’m delighted to see them is that they suffer very high mortality in severe winters, up to 80%, and because our previous two winters were so bad I was afraid they might have declined in numbers. But they lay large clutches of eight to 12 eggs, occasionally up to 15, which means the population can bounce back quite rapidly.