Long Tailed Tits

Aegithalos Caudatus

I spent yesterday at Staveley Nature Reserve near Harrogate, taking photographs for a painting that was never going to get painted. Well, it got painted. 

It was freezing cold, but I managed to get settled into a hide and, between taking photographs, have a good conversation with a like-minded individual. 

I don't know any folk tales surrounding these beautiful birds, but I love the way that they flitter around in groups. Individually they have to be one of the prettiest of our common birds. As a group, with their long, elegant tails, I love the way that they break up the shape of the feeders that they descended on yesterday.

 Mapping out where everything is going.

The first tit.

 detail.

 Building it up, bird by bird.

 Detail.

 Starting to look at the fatballs.

Finally with the feeder added.

Aegithalos caudatus