Blue Tits with big bellies

I love Blue Tits. I’m used to seeing them in Devon. Here they are in Italy:

This one so is immaculately groomed I’m feeling underdressed.

The scientific name of the Blue Tit is Cyanistes caeruleus. Scientists currently recognise nine different subspecies. In the UK we have Cyanistes caeruleus obscurus but here in Italy we have Cyanistes caeruleus caeruleus. That’s an obscurus fact.

The blue is so caerulean:

I’ve enjoyed some close encounters with them in the UK:

Love amongst the bushes

Getting this close is always a thrill.

Here’s one from forty years ago in my childhood nature notebooks:

I obviously didn’t have an olive green pencil crayon for the back.

I also wrote about in my childhood nature notebooks:

Blue Tits – forty years ago in my nature notebooks

This one has a very big belly for a small bird. A little like me after pizza: