Cross-billed blue tits, poxy great tits and a drooling green woodpecker

Visit Mark Fellowes Nature Photography

The morning's ringing started well, with a good catch including recently arrived blackcaps, chiffchaffs, garden, sedge and willow warblers. The good fortune didn't continue, as the breeze increased and that put paid to chances of a large catch. Cuckoos calling and swallows overhead added to the spring feel, but there was a few other oddities which grabbed our attention, things that perhaps wouldn't have been obvious without having the birds in the hand.

The first is this blue tit Cyanistes caeruleas, which has crossed mandibles. You'd think that this would make feeding difficult, but this individual was in perfectly normal condition.





This female great tit Parus major has avian pox, which is caused by a virus frequently transmitted by biting insects, or through direct contact. The lesion at the rear of the tit's head isn't near the bird's eyes or bill, so shouldn't impair its longevity.



Bird of the day was undoubtedly this one-year-old male green woodpecker Picus viridus, which showed a feature of its feeding behaviour rarely seen - the copious volume of thick saliva they produces to keep their barbed tongues sticky, which helps them mop up their ant prey. It's always fantastic to get something as special as one of these in the hand, even if your hands look like they've been mauled by the end of it all.