December 7th
I’m sat here trying to write a job application for a position I really want. But. I really hate writing job applications no matter what the job is for! So in order to get the creative juices flowing and kick-start the writing process I’ll publish a blog post. This time for a common garden bird here in the UK. And, strangely, one I’ve not written about before!
Great Tit Parus major Linnaeus, 1758
This is an incredibly common garden bird, familiar on bird feeders up and down the country, and indeed elsewhere in Europe. A small group were in the garden earlier. It is perhaps marginally less common than the related Blue Tit but not by much. It is larger than a Blue Tit at up to 14cm in length (or 5.5″ for my American readers). The face is black and white, the breast is yellow with a black stripe and the wings and top half of the bird is grey, but this can be variable. In the spring they will readily utilise garden bird boxes. They make a variety of calls and songs, so much so that if I hear a call I don’t recognise when out and about I always assume Great Tit, and quite often I am correct in the assumption. Their most familiar song sounds like ‘teacher, teacher’ and can be heard in the middle of winter onwards.
Advent species so far:
- 1st: Goosander Mergus merganser
- 2nd: December Moth Poecilocampa populi
- 3rd: Horse Chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum
- 4th Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
- 5th Cape Sparrow Passer melanurus
- 6th Loricera pilicornis
- 7th Great Tit Parus major
A Species a Day 