My favourite bird - it's no contest

However, as we get older and our experiences expand we begin to start to appreciate the subtler and more defined aspects of what we like, hence when asked the same question, what was once a simple answer, can often provoke a great deal of thought.

Recently I was asked just such a question whilst leading a nature walk. What was my favourite bird?

I fell back on the response that I did not have a favourite, but it started me thinking.

I am not what you would call a birder, I don’t keep records or avidly travel around the country to see unusual migrant birds like quite a few of my friends do. However, I do enjoy seeing them and can be uplifted by close encounters or by seeing a bird I have never come across before out on the nature reserves.

So I must have a favourite. I started with, is there a bird I have ever travelled to see ? Well yes, puffins off the coast of Pembrokeshire and golden eagles in western Scotland.

But there is one bird I would always make the effort to see and that’s the gannet. My first encounter was in a place call Marloes Sands.

I went for a swim to find myself being circled by a flock of gannets. Individuals would peel off from the flock, dive down towards me, pull back their wings and plunge into the sea nearby.

Gannets are big birds and this was one of the most amazing and exhilarating sights of my life. Gannets have been known to turn up occasionally in Worcestershire and there is even a record of a small group over-flying Wilden Marsh in the past, but I guess these were a little lost.

I have to admit gannets are great but I sort of think my favourite should be a bird that I see a lot of and no matter what, they always make me feel happy.

So I searched my mind again and one real candidate came to mind.

This bird is not large like a golden eagle, it does not exhibit spectacular behaviour like the gannet or even have bold, stunning and beautiful plumage like the puffin. It is almost the exact opposite, being one of our smallest birds and fairly drab in colour, but what it lacks here it more than makes up for in character.

The long-tailed tit may seem an odd choice but they have what feels to me an almost magical property.

Fortunately they are not an uncommon bird and you can frequently encounter them out on the heathlands around the district.

They hang around in small troops of around 20 birds and can often be seen flying, follow-the-leader style, from scattered tree to scattered tree. But often or not you will hear them before you encounter them.

The long-tailed tit is an incredibly energetic bird, hopping and flitting amongst the branches of its host tree, picking off insects and berries and all the while they will be twittering amongst themselves and it is this babble of activity that I think has won me over.

You can be having a bad day, under lots of stress, you’re cold and it’s just started to rain then – you find yourself in the company of a troop of long-tailed tits.

Their hyper-activity and consistent twitter makes all seem well with the world and don’t ask me why but I just start to relax and feel happier. How can I not love this cheeky little bird?

Fortunately long-tailed tits are one of those few birds that are doing well in our world. They thrive on heaths, feeding on the scattered trees and nesting in dense scrub of gorse and bramble, but they are equally at home in woods, farm hedgerows and even our gardens.

Their range extends from the UK east all the way to Japan. They are resident in the UK all year long and build very labour intensive nests in early April.

Long-tail tit nests are made from as many as 2,000 feathers woven together with threads from spider’s webs, lichens and animal hair and can take up to three weeks to build.

The parents of young long-tailed tits don’t have to take the burden of raising their young themselves as other members of the troop who are not raising young of their own will assist the new parents by helping to bring food.

It’s an easy bird to fall for.