Long-tailed Tits and Roe Deer

Probably my favourite small bird is the Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus). They are small and fluffy, never keep still and are very sociable. You never see them alone. They usually appear in groups of 6 to 10.

Sadly, they are not constant visitors to the garden. They appear for a few days then disappear for weeks, but they are a joy to watch. After the bad weather recently, I think they were very happy to get an easy meal on my bird feeders.

This was the first time that I managed to get a reasonably good photo of them.

There also seem to be a lot of deer around at the moment. This Roe Deer buck appeared with 2 females just before dark tonight. You can see his beautiful velvet antlers.

Roe Deer Buck

This chap was hanging around our garden all day today. I watched him eating our shrubs as I opened the curtains when I got up this morning (no camera handy).

I got my camera out when he was eating the windfall apples this evening, but it was almost dark, so the photograph is not too good.

You can see the remnants of his ginger summer coat amongst his darker winter coat.

He is also a relatively young male since his antlers are quite small. Roe deer shed their antlers each winter and regrow them.