Location of Singing WILLOW TIT at Water End, 02/03/13

Before I do a proper write up of the WILLOW TIT singing at Water End this weekend here is some detail of where I found it in case you decide to have a look for it.

On Saturday afternoon it was in trees behind houses on Willows Lane (appropriately enough), singing its strong 'tiu tiu tiu tiu' song with a slight Wood Warbler-cum-Chiffchaff-like sound to it, occasionally uttering some 'squeaky' notes like stepping on a dogs toy quickly! It was singing as I approached, walking up Potten End Hill & it immediately grabbed my attention. It then sang continuously for a good 5 minutes until it went silent & didn't start up again.

As hard as I tried to find the bird I couldn't, with small birds busy flitting in all directions in the branches & with my view partly obscured by the fence & hedge. To add to this the people in the house nearest the trees were stood at their back window as I was searching with my bins & I didn't want to upset them by turning to face their house from the other angle.

To double check the song I immediately opened on my mobile, Jean C. Roche's 'All The Bird Songs of Britain & Europe', on which I found a spot-on match under Willow Tit straight away, & as hard as I tried to make it 'just' a Marsh Tit which I have seen & heard locally around the area, I couldn't, the recording matched too perfectly.

Below is a recording by Steve Evans which also matches exactly the main song the Willow Tit sang on Saturday.

Willows Lane is a private road with a public footpath so there is no access by cars of places to park so to help with getting to the right spot here is an interactive map to show the location & how to access the area...

The RED Pinpoint is the location the Willow Tit was singing from.

The BLUE 'P' is the nearest place to park, at the National Trust car park.

The BLUE Line is the public footpath passing through the area, which runs between Potten End Hill & Leighton Buzzard Road (A4145), via Noake Mill Lane.
If you 'pull' the map down you will see an AQUA Pinpoint, this is a spot very easy to find Water Rails at if you sit waiting for 5 minutes or so on the river bank, which I thought might be of interest if you were visiting the area anyway.

View Location of Singing Willow Tit 2/3/13 in a larger map

I hope this helps if you decide to try to find it, I will certainly be trying to refind it & would love to hear if anyone else does too.

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