Garden Wildlife
Garden Wildlife
Garden Wildlife
Garden Wildlife
Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus
This is our commonest garden bird. BTO’s Garden Birdwatch project has it as the most frequently reported garden bird in 2019 and 2020, just beating the woodpigeon. Blue tits are woodland birds by nature, but very adaptable, and have taken well to the urban environment. They are famous for learning to remove the foil tops of milk bottles delivered to houses in order to get at the fat-rich cream on the top. They even learned to avoid skimmed milk from the colour of the foil, but today few get the opportunity since most milk is bought from supermarkets.
.jpg "Photo: Roy Smith")
What do they look like?
The 12cm long blue tit is a bit smaller than a robin. See the blue cap and ‘necklace’, white face with a blackish blue stripe through the dark eye, small pointed bill, black chin, yellow breast and belly, greenish back and blue and black wings. There is a bit of a dark streak down the centre of the breast and belly, and a bit of a white bar on the wing. The blues look greyer in dull light. Male and female blue tits look very much alike. Young birds (above on the right) are duller and yellower to look at, especially the face. See our tits page to compare with other species.
What do they sound like?
Blue tits have a high pitched squeaking call, a couple or three rapid ‘tweets’ followed by a trill. There is an alarm call which sounds like a buzzing ‘churrrr’ noise.
John Sirrett, XC670883. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/670883.
Anthony McGeehan , XC618554. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/618554
Normal call Alarm call
What do they eat?
The natural food of blue tits is largely insects, as you can tell from the pointed bill. They search crevices and crannies on tree trunks, and often explore fences and window-sills around houses for this prey. They also eat small seeds in winter including food put out by people, such as sunflower seeds, peanuts, fats. Blue tit breeding is more successful in oak woods than gardens, becaause of the generally higher availability of caterpillars there. Having plenty of deciduous trees and hedges in your garden helps.
What do they do?
Blue tits are very acrobatic birds, hanging on surfaces and twigs at all angles, including upside down, exploring for food. They are common users of nest boxes in gardens and use holes in tree-trunks in the wild. They are quite aggressive and will see off bigger birds like house sparrows and great tits from potential nest sites. They tend to have large broods of around a dozen chicks.
In winter they form large wandering flocks with other small insectivorous birds. You may see them every day in your garden but in winter these are unlikely to be the same birds at all times.
How are they doing?
According to the BTO Breeding Birds Survey 2020 the blue tit has had a stable population over the last 25 years, having increased in the C20th. There are about 3.4 million territories. This may have been partly on account of artificial feeding, and there is early evidence that this allows them (and great tits) to out-compete and reduce the populations of some more timid birds like marsh and coal tits, and pied flycatchers.
Finding out more:
BTO profile on blue tit
RSPB profile on blue tit
Schilthuizen, M. (2018) Darwin comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution. Quercus. Blue tits and milk bottles see pages 197-201
Schutt, J.D. and Lees, A.C. (2021) Killing with kindness: Does widespread generalised provisioning of wildlife help or hinder biodiversity conservation efforts? Biological Conservation 261:10925. Abstract
Page written by Roy Smith, compiled by Steve Head
Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus
This is our commonest garden bird. BTO’s Garden Birdwatch project has it as the most frequently reported garden bird in 2019 and 2020, just beating the woodpigeon. Blue tits are woodland birds by nature, but very adaptable, and have taken well to the urban environment. They are famous for learning to remove the foil tops of milk bottles delivered to houses in order to get at the fat-rich cream on the top. They even learned to avoid skimmed milk from the colour of the foil, but today few get the opportunity since most milk is bought from supermarkets.
What do they look like?
The 12cm long blue tit is a bit smaller than a robin. See the blue cap and ‘necklace’, white face with a blackish blue stripe through the dark eye, small pointed bill, black chin, yellow breast and belly, greenish back and blue and black wings. There is a bit of a dark streak down the centre of the breast and belly, and a bit of a white bar on the wing. The blues look greyer in dull light. Male and female blue tits look very much alike. Young birds (above on the right) are duller and yellower to look at, especially the face.
What do they sound like?
Blue tits have a high pitched squeaking call, a couple or three rapid ‘tweets’ followed by a trill. There is an alarm call which sounds like a buzzing ‘churrrr’ noise.
What do they look like?
The 12cm long blue tit is a bit smaller than a robin. See the blue cap and ‘necklace’, white face with a blackish blue stripe through the dark eye, small pointed bill, black chin, yellow breast and belly, greenish back and blue and black wings. There is a bit of a dark streak down the centre of the breast and belly, and a bit of a white bar on the wing. The blues look greyer in dull light. Male and female blue tits look very much alike. Young birds (above on the right) are duller and yellower to look at, especially the face. See our tits page to compare with other species.
What do they sound like?
Blue tits have a high pitched squeaking call, a couple or three rapid ‘tweets’ followed by a trill. There is an alarm call which sounds like a buzzing ‘churrrr’ noise.
Normal call Alarm call
Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus
This is our commonest garden bird. BTO’s Garden Birdwatch project has it as the most frequently reported garden bird in 2019 and 2020, just beating the woodpigeon. Blue tits are woodland birds by nature, but very adaptable, and have taken well to the urban environment. They are famous for learning to remove the foil tops of milk bottles delivered to houses in order to get at the fat-rich cream on the top. They even learned to avoid skimmed milk from the colour of the foil, but today few get the opportunity since most milk is bought from supermarkets.
Anthony McGeehan , XC618554. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/618554
John Sirrett, XC670883. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/670883.
What do they eat?
The natural food of blue tits is largely insects, as you can tell from the pointed bill. They search crevices and crannies on tree trunks, and often explore fences and window-sills around houses for this prey. They also eat small seeds in winter including food put out by people, such as sunflower seeds, peanuts, fats. Blue tit breeding is more successful in oak woods than gardens, becaause of the generally higher availability of caterpillars there. Having plenty of deciduous trees and hedges in your garden helps.
What do they do?
Blue tits are very acrobatic birds, hanging on surfaces and twigs at all angles, including upside down, exploring for food. They are common users of nest boxes in gardens and use holes in tree-trunks in the wild. They are quite aggressive and will see off bigger birds like house sparrows and great tits from potential nest sites. They tend to have large broods of around a dozen chicks.
In winter they form large wandering flocks with other small insectivorous birds. You may see them every day in your garden but in winter these are unlikely to be the same birds at all times.
How are they doing?
According to the BTO Breeding Birds Survey 2020 the blue tit has had a stable population over the last 25 years, having increased in the C20th. There are about 3.4 million territories. This may have been partly on account of artificial feeding, and there is early evidence that this allows them (and great tits) to out-compete and reduce the populations of some more timid birds like marsh and coal tits, and pied flycatchers.
Finding out more:
Schilthuizen, M. (2018) Darwin comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution. Quercus. Blue tits and milk bottles see pages 197-201
Schutt, J.D. and Lees, A.C. (2021) Killing with kindness: Does widespread generalised provisioning of wildlife help or hinder biodiversity conservation efforts? Biological Conservation 261:10925. Abstract
What do they eat?
The natural food of blue tits is largely insects, as you can tell from the pointed bill. They search crevices and crannies on tree trunks, and often explore fences and window-sills around houses for this prey. They also eat small seeds in winter including food put out by people, such as sunflower seeds, peanuts, fats. Blue tit breeding is more successful in oak woods than gardens, becaause of the generally higher availability of caterpillars there. Having plenty of deciduous trees and hedges in your garden helps.
What do they do?
Blue tits are very acrobatic birds, hanging on surfaces and twigs at all angles, including upside down, exploring for food. They are common users of nest boxes in gardens and use holes in tree-trunks in the wild. They are quite aggressive and will see off bigger birds like house sparrows and great tits from potential nest sites. They tend to have large broods of around a dozen chicks.
In winter they form large wandering flocks with other small insectivorous birds. You may see them every day in your garden but in winter these are unlikely to be the same birds at all times.
How are they doing?
According to the BTO Breeding Birds Survey 2020 the blue tit has had a stable population over the last 25 years, having increased in the C20th. There are about 3.4 million territories. This may have been partly on account of artificial feeding, and there is early evidence that this allows them (and great tits) to out-compete and reduce the populations of some more timid birds like marsh and coal tits, and pied flycatchers.
Finding out more:
Schilthuizen, M. (2018) Darwin comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution. Quercus. Blue tits and milk bottles see pages 197-201
Schutt, J.D. and Lees, A.C. (2021) Killing with kindness: Does widespread generalised provisioning of wildlife help or hinder biodiversity conservation efforts? Biological Conservation 261:10925. Abstract
Page written by Roy Smith, compiled by Steve Head