IT’S the ultimate winter image. And the holiday card would read ‘Bliain Úr Faoi Mhaise/Happy New Year from Poleglass’ – because these five birds were photographed in a garden there this week.
Long-tailed tits are an incredible bird that live all around us in the parks and hills, but they don’t often visit gardens. When they do, they come in winter as a family party – maybe a dozen or more – and sweep through with no time to hang around (literally). While all other birds will stay until the food runs out, long-tailed tits are hot-wired differently. They can’t sit still for a second and will move on quickly even from a well-stocked feeder like this one.
And so their visits are special. Dúlra hasn’t had them yet this year, but there’s something magical about every visit. It’s a bit like the season itself – there’s fairy dust in the air.
When a family of long-tailed tits descends, at first Dúlra never realises what's happening. You just get the sense of an overwhelming movement all around. It’s like the trees themselves have shaken off their winter slumber and come to life. It always takes Dúlra a few seconds to realise what’s going on – you’re watching a group of tiny black-and-white birds inching their way through the undergrowth, constantly giving contact calls to each other. The calls are so low they barely register – unless one of the group becomes separated, then they become faster and louder.
Even in mid-winter, they manage to pick microscopic food off the bare branches – they particularly go for the eggs and larvae of moths and butterflies. Now that’s fine dining! Those insects are so hard to get and so small that the birds have to spend every second of daylight to get enough food to stay alive.
The family groups – no bigger than around 20 and containing the parents along with that year’s youngsters – are even more important at night, when the families huddle together in a ball and keep each other warm until morning. A single bird is so small and delicate it wouldn’t make it through a bitter night alone.
Even in flocks, a bad winter takes a terrible toll – only one in five birds survived heavy snow in recent years.
These winter flocks often contain ‘helpers’ – adult birds whose nests failed who then decided to help a neighbouring couple raise their brood. Yes – the long-tailed tit is too good to be true!
The incredible lichen nest – it looks like a tennis ball stuck in a tree – is often targeted by animals and bird predators like jays, despite them being built in the thickest, thorniest shrub. And when this happens the devastated adults don’t try to build a new nest, they just move on to help others. Can there be a nicer bird than the long-tailed tit? It was recently discovered that these ‘helpers’ are almost always aunts and uncles of the youngsters. Their family bonds are as strong as ours.
The welcome planting of trees all along our roadsides means these family parties of long-tailed tits – meantán earrfhada in Irish – sweep through urban Belfast each winter. Dúlra spots them flying across the road every time he’s out in the car – yesterday a group of them were crossing the Andersonstown Road. It’s estimated that there are 40,000 pairs in Ireland, but with a new forest of urban trees across Belfast, especially in places like Polegrass, Dúlra is sure that number has increased in recent years. As winter wanes, the females move away from their family flocks and find a mate in another family.
The male collects thousands of feathers and binds them together with spiders’ webs.
They lay up to 12 eggs – that’s a family of 14 huddled together in that bed of feathers and surrounded by cobwebs. The definition of cosiness. The Poleglass reader has every right to be delighted at his latest visitors – for the last week they’ve arrived at the same time every day and are gone within a minute. But that’s a minute worth cherishing!
• If you’ve seen or photographed anything interesting, or have any nature questions, you can text Dúlra on 07801 414804.
