Right Moves? (Part 2) or
The Rumble in the Jungle or
Location, Location, Location

Today I have witnessed a sight of such terrible and disgraceful violence, that it would make even the most badly behaved prize fighters blush.

To use the Humble vernacular (bless her), I saw the a-s-t-o-n-i-s-h-i-n-g site of a Blue Tit and Marsh/Willow Tit engaged, in what I was convinced at the time, was a fight to the death.

The combatants:  

Terry (The Willow) Marsh

The Blue Bomber


Like most I was aware of the feisty reputation of the Robin during the breeding season and knew that male Robins can sometimes fight to the death over territory and breeding rights. What I was not aware of, is that the fluffy little ball of joy that is the Blue Tit, can turn into an equally aggressive assailant, attacking anything it perceives, has entered the area it has claimed around it's potential new nest.

The Rumble

At this stage I really thought one of them was going to be killed and moved to break it up

In the pictures it may look as if the Marsh/Willow Tit is having the best of it - I assure you it was fighting for it's life - to the extent I put the camera down with the intention of separating the two combatants fearing one or other was about to be killed. The Blue Tit, once the fight had broken up, continue to dive upon and harry, any bird that it regarded as trespassing (mainly the Great Tits).

And here, dear reader, we have the the crux of the problem, in the previous post you will have seen a Blue Tit giving the once over to a brand new nest site i.e the new nest box. Unfortunately this new box is located within 4 or 5 metres of the feeding stations, which at the moment suggests, that any birds coming in to feed, are potential targets for our hit man. The outcome will probably be a lot of blood and feathers around the feeding table or the Blue Tits will get fed up with all the aggro and abandon the box.

My view, is that we need to move the nest box further away from the feeding stations immediately, but would love advice - has anyone else encountered this e-x-t-r-a-o-r-d-i-n-a-r-y (sorry just slipped into the Humble again) violence from Blue Tits before, or do we just have a nutcase (as it were)?

All photographs taken by and © Tony Bedford