Tits
Small birds with plain or colourful plumages, stout legs and strong feet and short, triangular bills. Several species have crests. In the UK, six species breed (plus one unrelated species of reedbeds); there are a few more in Europe and Asia, plus others in Africa and the Americas. They are social, often in mixed flocks, but territorial when nesting. They are among the most persistent and successful visitors to garden feeders. Members of this familyThis list only includes birds that occur regularly within the UK. A brown, long-tailed bird, usually seen flying rapidly across the top of a reedbed. Males have black 'moustaches' rather than 'beards'. They are sociable and noisy , their 'ping' calls often being the... |  |
A colourful mix of blue, yellow, white and green make the agile blue tit one of our most attractive garden visitors. In winter, family flocks join up with other tits as they search for food - flitting onto bird feeders, or feeding on seeds and scraps left on bird tables and on the ground. |  |
This small tit has a black head with white cheeks and a white stripe on the back of its head. They are very acitve and agile birds, often seen in flocks with other small birds feeding in woods and hedgerows, as well as on feeders. They take any excess food and store it for eating later. |  |
Although not as colourful as some other tits, its 'bridled' face pattern and the upstanding black and white crest make this a most distinctive species. Crested tits feed actively, clinging to trunks a... |  |
Great tits are green and yellow with striking glossy black heads, white cheeks and a distinctive two-syllable song. They feed on seeds and scraps either left on the ground, or on bird tables and in nut feeders, often using their bigger size to boss the other birds off the food! |  |
Looking like a ball on a stick with their long tails and small bodies, you'll probably notice long-tailed tits most when they are in small, excitable flocks of about 20 birds. Both males and females are black, white and pale pink, with distinctive white crowns. |  |
Not distinguished from the willow tit as a separate species until 1897, the marsh tit is smart, clean looking bird with a small, well defined black bib and glossy black cap. As with so many woodland b... |  |
Between blue and great tits in size, with no yellow, green or blue. It has a large sooty-black cap extending to the back of the neck and a small untidy black bib. It is mid-brown above, with whiter ch... |  |
|