Yes, in all seriousness I can imagine that being the case !
It seems like several species are retracting North & East…

Folk seem sceptical when we talk about the numbers we have & of regional increases & range expansion into new community woodlands etc

Hope we’ll enjoy them for a good while yet

Have to set a Pay per View up marra, them cockneys’s minted £ 😉

Having looked at this species (side by side with Leo & Woodcock for 30 years) I still stand by my theory that Durham could well hold 2,000+ pairs of Wilti in 2025. 🎯
5/5

I have a lower 2.6 pair/monad average for the very well known NZ34 with 250 pairs.

Since 2000 Willow Tit have been recorded in 454 1km squares in VC66 whilst some of those records are 25y/o traditional territories are way older than that & several areas have seen increases in range & no’s
4/5

In good quality habitat, nationally we can expect to find 6-7 pairs in a 1km square. (we have higher densities than that in Durham).

The average for occupied squares in uk is said to be c4 pairs.
3/5

This is a simple map of our widespread sightings during 2025, & includes records from numerous other sources

The map shows 392 registrations from x324 Monads (1km x1km) / x162 Tetrads (2km x 2km) for this year alone.
2/5

Hi Tom, hopefully your missing Spugs are in a nice big field somewhere

There’s a v high uptake of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and C’Stewardship (CS) in NEast
1,600 new farms in this year, average of c150-200Ha per agreement on NEast farms.

3K Linnet & 1.1K TSpug in my main Hectad

🤞

Cheers Rob
Walked to within feet of her & she was still confident in her camouflage 😊

This pair embellished their Lichen dome with tiny pieces of Polystyrene
They’d laid their first egg by 26March & fledged c10 young

Here’s one nesting in a Phragmites reed bed.
Unclear how regular an occurrence this is…
Very tricky to confirm
Herrington Country Park & Shibdon Pond are 2 places this has been documented 🎯

Any mixed farmland in Durham holds breeding Grey Partridge, moorland edge holds good numbers, as can a seemingly monoculture of oil seed rape.
Still a commonplace bird.
Easy to locate nowadays with Thermal imaging 🎯

We can find as many as 10 nesting pairs in a Monad in good quality habitat.
21 active nests is our best Tetrad total in recent years for the Co.Durham area.

Another special Durham resident whose numbers & range has increased dramatically.
Less than 20 years ago Durham Birders would “twitch” showy Barnies for the Year List.
Lack of snow cover, conservation initiatives & nest boxes has all helped Barnies make an epic comeback back 😀👍🏻

Perhaps they need a nice tidy new hedge to hide all those messy Brambles 😵‍💫