My attempts to find some early migrants were scuppered by
heavy snow today. The temperature is +1C so the snow is heavy and wet and no
self respecting summer migrant will be seen dead in this weather – which might
well have been their fate if they were here.
Never-the-less a walk around Fornebu revealed the two
headlines birds but pretty much nothing else – I didn’t even notice a Blue Tit.
The Bearded Tits were again calling out in the reedbed and I suspected that I
would again not see them. However after a few minutes I noticed some reeds
moving about 10 metres out (there was no wind today so otherwise the reeds were
all standing straight and still). I was able to see three birds feeding half
way up the reeds and movement suggested one other bird. They then dropped down
and were quiet before suddenly appearing by the fence just three metres from
me. They were running over the snow so had probably travelled the 7 metres by
foot although it did strike me that their incredibly short wings are probably
an evolutionary adaption to allow them to fly through rather than over
the reedbed. When they came to the fence they then started feeding high in the
reeds. The reeds here do seem to be higher and have larger seed heads than
further out so it may be that there is just more food here. I was able to see
six birds (3 pairs) of which four were ringed (2 pairs). This doesn’t really
help me confirm the exact number of birds present but I didn’t hear any other
birds today.
The Great Grey Shrike was sat upon his favourite bushes in
the middle of the island although didn’t seem too happy about the snow.
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| Male Bearded Tits. At one stage all six were feeding on the ground on my side of the fence |
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| A double moustache |
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| Great Grey Shrike. For once the grubby marks on the picture are not from a mucky lens but from snowflakes |
A video showing the Beardies running around on the snow at the base of the reeds
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