BEARDED TIT

Surely up there in the top 10 of every birdwatcher’s favourite bird, the Bearded Tit is a real charmer. Even the ‘ping ping’ calls are cute. Small, long-tailed and with stupidly short, rounded wings, they are not the sort of bird which you would expect to fly far. However, in the early autumn, Bearded Tits can rise up vertically in family groups and flocks and head off for reedbeds new. October is one of the best times for finding a Beaded Tit turning up at an ‘unexpected’ place (usually a reedbed or reedmace bed), where you may never have seen one before, at least not this year.