The sound of Long-tailed Tits chattering as they flock together is a cue to look up, not only to watch them but to see what other birds are with them. Blue and Great Tits are perhaps the most likely at Sculpture by the Lakes but it is worth checking out the tree trunks for a Treecreeper and there might be a goldcrest or two in the flock too.
Most winters we have recorded the rare Firecrest but it is a lucky sighting. Curiously, a common bird to be seen with the tits is the Chiffchaff. Most Chiffchaff migrate to the Mediterranean or Africa in the autumn but a few of these tiny warblers spend the winter with us. This is why we hear the repetitive song chiffchaffchiffchaff so early in the year, on a sunny day in February.
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Other song birds that are getting together in flocks, at the moment, are the Starling. We don’t have the giant murmurations that occur on the Somerset levels, for example, but several hundred getting together to roost from mid-afternoon, can make quite a commotion.
