Bearded Tits 1976

 The following are pages of my field notebook from 1976. These notes were written as I uncovered and identified Bearded Tits nesting, and successfully breeding, in Ireland for the first time. 

I lost track of their progress in subsequent years, and in February 1980 I left Ireland to travel to Australia where I have resided ever since. I believe they left this area and, in fact, were rarely seen in Ireland for several years. Now, currently in 2026, 50 years later, they are reported, and have been seen regularly, in Tachumsin and, I believe, Lady's Island Lake in Co Wexford, approximately 100 kms south of my described location in Co Wicklow. They have also been seen near Newcastle, just a few kms down the coast from this, the original location - these sightings are freely and publicly available.

I do not believe I am in any way threatening the species by disclosing these details. Firstly, it was 50 years ago, secondly, the area I describe is a well known reed bed, but is now on private land and almost inaccessible, thirdly, the bird can be seen - and is probably breeding - at several locations along the east coast, finally, I have seen no records of Bearded Tit near or at Kilcoole in 'recent' times, although there may well be some secrecy attached to sightings during the breeding season.

I would beg for an understanding of some of my comments - and my pursuit of the birds and their breeding status. It was 50 years ago, I was only 21 and 'conservation' was a rarely used and even more rarely applied principle in the Ireland of 1976. Add to that my inexperience and pure enthusiasm and some of my actions, thoughts and principles may be seen as a product of the time, my excitement and joy.

I did, ultimately, report my sightings to the IWC (Irish Wildfowl Conservancy), and what is now known as Birdwatch Ireland, and later found out someone else 'found' them a few days after me, however, it remains, and I say with some modest pride, the first time Bearded Tits were proved to have successfully bred on the island of Ireland! It might be worth noting, too, for younger, modern birders for whom a camera is the be-all and end-all and one can bang anything into Ebird without any details and few questions asked, back in those days a written description, including drawings, were a prerequisite for any claimed records. I did take pictures but have been unable to find them - they were probably pretty shit anyway, so....... let the notebook speak for itself!

26.6.76