For those like myself, mature enough to remember Rick Astley the first time around and sleep through the Great Storm of 1987, as I did, you might also remember Radar O’Reilly in the long-running comedy series M*A*S*H. Radar’s extraordinary hearing could detect incoming helicopters approaching the field army hospital way before anyone else. 

Whilst this might seem a random recollection for an ecologist standing in Great Howe Wood on a March dawn, my companion, RSPB local volunteer, Andy Goodey (pictured), triggered this memory with his amazing ability to distinguish different species bird song at a distance, way before my ears alerted me. We were surveying for Marsh tits, as part of a wider local project, making the most of the fact that they are a sedentary species, usually settled in a well-defined territory by March.  

Using methodology devised by Richard Broughton from research in Cambridgeshire woodlands, Andy and I walked a pre-defined route, stopping at least every 100metres to play the Marsh tit call from an audio file on Andy’s phone. 

Typically their territories are four to six hectares, but can go up to 20 hectares, which is enormous for a 10g bird! It also restricts the species to larger broad-leaf woodland areas such as Great Howe, at over 28hectares, which when seen from a landscape perspective is a problem in arable-dominated East Anglia. This combined with their limited ability to disperse across open ground, means that if woodland is isolated within the landscape, juvenile dispersal and therefore population expansion is almost impossible. 

This is one of the reasons the Estate’s ecological landscape plan includes significant areas of woodland re-planting adjacent to Great Howe, not only expanding the woodland itself, but connecting it with other woodland blocks. Some of the hedgerows planted last winter along historic lines also reconnect Great Howe with other woodland areas.

This is one of the reasons the Estate’s ecological landscape plan includes significant areas of woodland re-planting adjacent to Great Howe, not only expanding the woodland itself, but connecting it with other woodland blocks. Some of the hedgerows planted last winter along historic lines also reconnect Great Howe with other woodland areas.

The Estate manages Great Howe, an ancient semi-natural woodland, working on areas in rotation, to create a good habitat mosaic and variety of structures, which means the very particular Marsh tit can thrive. The presence of a good understory, due to the active management and importantly deer control is a key component.

As Andy and I meandered through the woodland, we also spotted Oxlips coming into flower, another local rarity, along with a large quantity frog spawn in the large puddle next to the newly restored pond - typical!

Another bonus was seeing a Long-tailed tit pair nest building in Bramble at the edge of a ride, which when I returned with Daisy, one of our Estate workers, last week, had completed their beautiful nest.  This just shows how the finer details of managing a woodland such as zone cutting rides can impact positively on the wildlife. 

This survey work also highlighted to me that the continued presence of Marsh tit in Great Howe is a team effort, not just from the Estate team with ride cutting, re-planting and tree management, but also through the planning of our woodland adviser, Clive Ellis, our skilled woodland contractor, Guy Jones, and volunteers, such as our team of deer stalkers and Andy, the Essex equivalent to Radar O’Reilly!