Behind the mill is a flowering dogwood, which I can see out of our back window. At all seasons of the year this small tree is a delight: it looks especially gorgeous in the summer, with its bracts of pinkish-white, and is one of the last trees in the garden to lose its leaves. When the last leaves have fallen, I hang feeders from its bare branches and, in the winter months, the dogwood tree plays host to all my garden bird friends.
As well as the garden’s resident robins, dunnocks, sparrows, and chaffinches all like to hang out in this tree.
and a filled coconut half will bring a flock of them!
But at this time of year, it’s the tits that enjoy the dogwood tree most of all.
The great tits are handsome . . .
. . .bold . . .
. . . and striking.
The blue tits are winsome . . .
. . .nimble . . .
. . . and cheeky.
But the coal tits are my secret favourite of all the birds in the dogwood tree.
Any garden bird reference tome will tell you that these are low-ranking birds: tolerated by the other tits, with whom they hang about in winter flocks, but always last in line when there’s a tasty treat to be had.
Perhaps I like the coal tits because they tolerate my presence and are generally a little more confiding, in the manner of my friendly garden robins. Perhaps I admire their superior acrobatic skill, as they deftly attach their diminutive, darting bodies to the most unlikely of surfaces.
Or perhaps it is their appealing palette whose wintery neutrals and barely-there peachy-buff speaks so precisely to December’s dominant tones . . .
. . .that makes the coal tit top of my winter garden pecking order.
Which birds are you enjoying in your garden this winter?
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