Blue Tit

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Blue Tit in the UK

A common resident, found throughout Britain and Ireland apart from the Northern Isles and parts of the Hebrides. The UK holds about 3.4 million territories. Numbers rose for decades, up 20 per cent since 1967, with a shallow decline since about 2008. It is Green-listed. British birds rarely move far: most spend their whole lives within a few kilometres of where they hatched, joining roaming tit flocks in winter.

Where and when to see a Blue Tit

Anywhere with trees or bushes, all year. Gardens with feeders are the easiest place, and a nest box with a 25 mm hole is often used. Oak woodland in May is good for watching adults ferry caterpillars to the nest. In winter, look for mixed flocks of tits moving through woods and hedges, and check reedbeds, where Blue Tits peck insects out of reed stems.

Habitat, diet and field notes

Habitat: Woodland, gardens.
Diet: Insects, seeds, peanuts.
Field note: Flocky in winter.

How to identify a Blue Tit

Smaller than a Great Tit. No other British bird combines a blue cap, white face and yellow underparts. A dark line runs through the eye and around the white cheek, the back is green, and the wings and tail are blue with one white wing bar. A thin dark line runs down the centre of the belly. Juveniles in summer are duller, with yellow cheeks and a greenish cap. It is acrobatic, often hanging upside down from twig tips and feeders.

Call and song

The song is two or three high notes followed by a quick, silvery trill: 'tsee-tsee-tsu-hu-hu-hu'. The alarm is a scolding, rising 'churr-r-r'. Heard something you cannot place? Bird Hear identifies UK birds from a 10 second recording, free in your browser.

Confusion species

• Great Tit: Great Tit is larger, with a glossy black head, white cheeks and a bold black stripe down a yellow belly.
• Coal Tit: Coal Tit has a black head with a white patch on the nape, buff underparts and no blue or yellow.

Related guide UK garden birds.

Conservation status and Birdedex points

In the Birdedex the Blue Tit is a Common tier bird, worth +1 point when you log one. It is not on the Red or Amber lists in Birds of Conservation Concern 5.

Recent UK sightings

Similar birds

• Eurasian BlackcapCommon · Woodland
• European RobinCommon · Gardens
• Great Spotted WoodpeckerCommon · Woodland
• Great TitCommon · Woodland
• Song ThrushCommon · Gardens
• SparrowhawkCommon · Woodland

Blue Tit: quick answers

What does a Blue Tit eat?

Insects and spiders for most of the year, with moth caterpillars the main food for chicks. In autumn and winter it adds seeds, and at feeders it takes sunflower hearts, peanuts and fat.

What habitat does Blue Tit live in?

Broadleaved woodland is the natural home, especially oak. It has adapted to parks, hedgerows and gardens of any size, and is scarce only on treeless hills and islands. It nests in holes in trees and walls.

Where can I see a Blue Tit in the UK?

Almost anywhere. Hang a feeder and one will probably find it within days. A typical adult lives about three years, and a female usually lays 8 to 10 eggs in a single brood timed to the spring caterpillar peak.

Kit that helps

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