Coal Tit (Periparus ater)

Another sort of desperation blip.  I have done a lot of flower shots of late so was looking for a change.  The weather wasn't good, very poor light and movement from the wind.  I started trying to get a shot which showed the main identification feature the white nape.

I never managed the shot I was after and this one is too noisy but there you go.  A short lived bird, the average life span being 2 years.  The record life span proved by ringing is 9 years 2 months and 25 days.  This record was set in 2008.

A bird mainly of conifers they are an increasingly common garden bird and a species which is holding its own rather than decreasing as so many species are.  In 2009 there were an estimated 680,000 territories so around 1.3 million individuals.