Winterwatch 2021 episode 5

Winterwatch 2021 episode 5: This episode looks at the extraordinary lengths animals go to in order to survive this harshest of seasons. Chris Packham comes live from the New Forest, looking for Dartford warblers, and he updates us on what’s happened on the live cameras over the weekend.

Iolo Williams is looking at the water shrews and discovers their amazing ability to survive the winter, while Gillian Burke explains why our local sewage works can be a magnet for wildlife during the winter months.

Tonight also sees the start of Megan McCubbin ‘s four part look at species that we don’t love as much as we should. Megan hopes to challenge the reputations of these animals and make us appreciate them, starting with rats. We’re also on the Somerset levels as ‘Birdgirl’ Mya Rose Craig goes in search of the very rare Penduline tit – and she hopes to show Iolo where to find them.

Winterwatch 2021 episode 5

Penduline tit

The penduline tits constitute a family of small passerine birds, related to the true tits. All but the verdin make elaborate bag nests hanging from trees (whence “penduline”, hanging), usually over water.

Penduline tits are tiny passerines, ranging from 7.5 to 11 cm in length, that resemble the true tits (Paridae) but have finer bills with more needle-like points. Their wings are short and rounded and their short tails are notched (except the stub-tailed tit). The penduline tits’ typical plumage colors are pale grays and yellows and white, though the European penduline tit has black and chestnut markings and some species have bright yellow or red.

The penduline tits live in Eurasia and Africa and North America. The genus Remiz is almost exclusively Palearctic, ranging discontinuously from Portugal and the tip of northern Morocco through to Siberia and Japan. The largest genus, Anthoscopus, is found in sub-Saharan Africa from the Sahel through to South Africa. The verdin lives in arid parts of the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico.

Several species of penduline tit are migratory, although this behaviour is only shown in species found in Asia and Europe; African species and the verdin are apparently sedentary. The Eurasian penduline tit is migratory over parts of its range, with birds in northern Europe moving south in the winter but birds in southern Europe remaining close to their breeding areas. In contrast the Chinese penduline tit is fully migratory and undertake long distance migrations.

Most live in open country with trees or bushes, ranging from desert to marsh to woodland, but the forest penduline tit lives in rain forest. They spend most of the year in small flocks.