Talkback: Long-tailed tits - Page 2

Reply to everyone. It's obviously true that these birds are spreading. Thanks for all the comments. I'm still left wondering what the birds in the Isle of Wight were doing bashing themselves on the glass. Perhaps ornithologists don't read the GW blog. I'm just back from the IoW and although we stayed in a different holiday cottage, there were more birds banging on the windows — a chaffinch this time. Reply to Callum. It certainly looks like a green finch to me.

The group of 6 or so long talied tits in my garden regularly go around the windows stopping to peck at each one. At first I thought there might be small insects on the wooden frames but it is definitely the glass they are pecking. although they are flock birds I believe they are also territorial so my theory is that they are checking out what they see as newcomers. I'd be very interested to hear an expert's view.

We have a flock of 7 that visit the garden as part of their regular food trail, and they love the forsythia for the bugs on it - one reason James should keep it maybe?

It is only in the last year or so that long tailed tits have been visiting my garden and using the peanut feeder and seed feeders. But there favourites are definitely the fat balls hanging in an elder tree just outside the back door - they will happily feed there when I am sitting a few feet away on the patio.

They are one of the birds I see most in my garden and there seem to be lots in the surrounding neighbourhood I live in in Liverpool.