Surveying Willow Tits...

Sunday last (1st Feb) we were out en masse to make sure we're all of one mind, one purpose, when it comes to surveying Willow Tit in the fringes of Dartmoor. Six of the seven assembled bright and pretty much on time at the designated woodland, whence we began our search. Here's how it went:

So where are these Willow Tits anyway? Perhaps it's a bit open in here...

...this looks a bit better. Everyone pay attention, now...



...no, none here either. Next patch of wet woodland (which NVC is this, anyway?!)...

...over this quite nice Rhos pasture...

...no, none in here either. Pay attention, Nik...

...and Tim leads the Willow Tit conga out of the woods...

The final result was surveyors 6:Willow Tits 0. We've a couple of hypotheses so far: either it was way too bleedin' cold and manky for any self-respecting Willow Tit to be out responding to playback, or Willow Tit records are scarce and sporadic in the county because they're not there. I know which one I think might be the truth, but I remain optimistic nonetheless.

A bit of background for you: Willow Tit Poecile montana is a very scarce bird in Devon, with just a couple of well-known sites providing the vast majority of records. It may or may not have undergone a range contraction, it may or may not still exist in a viable population here. Most of the more reliable evidence comes from the north and centre of the county, primarily north of Dartmoor, but there are a number of not-too-distant records from the eastern side of the moors, as well as the traditional site on the moors. The aim of the project is to begin to work out the status and distribution of the species on the north and eastern parts of the moors; mainly because that's where the vast majority of recent records have come from.

Watch this space?