Long-tailed tits unafraid of me at the bird feeder

As the daylight virtually disappeared late this afternoon,  I went out to fill the sunflower feeder on the lower patio, as it had been emptied today. That is a lot of seed. The poor weather brought to us by the latest Storm Darragh has meant very poor pickings for the birds. When I went back up the steps to the house I stood i the doorway looking out across the valley and the fragments of light still left in the sky.

We have a suet pellet feeder just outside the back door and as i stood just three feet away from the feeder I heard the unmistakeable sound of the long-tailed tits twittering amongst themselves. I looked up to the goat willow tree just beyond the house and watched as about six of them gathered on several branches. I love these birds and was delighted to see them, but knew they wouldn’t come closer. 

How wrong I was. With no fear whatsoever one of the long-tailed tits flew up to the feeder and continued to look at me as it explored the cage looking for the pellets. Within second five more of them joined it and I watched in wonderment and pleasure as they continued to feed just three feet from my head. Eventually they flew away back into the tree but didn’t totally disappear. I know that they only visit for very short periods, so hoping that they might make another trip to the feeder I got my phone from my pocket and stepped back a foot to stand in the doorway. 

Less than a minute later a couple of them flew back and I tried to take a snap or two in the near darkness. I’m pleased that a couple of them were in relatively good focus and despite the ‘noise’ they will be a fine blip for me to remember that moment when they came to visit without fear. I’ll try to let this happen again when I see them gathering in the future, and hope I can have my camera with me and some light.