The silver-throated dasher

CONFUSED? Well, you might be. Regarded as one of the cutest birds (a description I would not argue against), it has several local names: bush tit, long-tailed muffin, mumruffin, jack in the bottle. I can only see sense in the last, presumably from the fact that the nest is a bottle-shaped, totally enclosed confection of moss and lichen, hair, spiders’ web and a multitude of feathers. Usually it is well camouflaged, but on occasions can be very obvious.

The long-tailed tit is found throughout Europe and much of temperate Asia. In the UK, it frequents all but the north and west of Scotland. Long-tails are frequently seen in flocks (often family groups in winter) in woodland, hedgerows, parks and gardens. They are unmistakable with their black and white plumage suffused with pink and that distinctive tail, which is twice the length of the body. Flitting through, ever on the move in search of insects, I often see them strung out, with the leader perhaps 100 yards from the tail-ender as they work their way through a hedgerow of trees.