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  • Great tit

Great tit

Great tit
Great tit
Great tit (juvenile)
Great tit (juvenile)
  • Scientific name: Parus major
  • Bird family: Tits
  • UK conservation status: Green
  • Protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

Great tit call

Your browser does not support this audio feature.

Stein O Nilsen, Xeno-canto

Key information

The largest UK tit - green and yellow with a striking glossy black head with white cheeks and a distinctive two-syllable song. It is a woodland bird which has readily adapted to man-made habitats to become a familiar garden visitor. It can be quite aggressive at a birdtable, fighting off smaller tits. In winter it joins with blue tits and others to form roaming flocks which scour gardens and countryside for food.

What they eat:

Insects, seeds and nuts.

Measurements:

Length:
14cm
Wingspan:
24cm
Weight:
18g

Population:

UK breeding is the number of pairs breeding annually. UK wintering is the number of individuals present from October to March. UK passage is the number of individuals passing through on migration in spring and/or autumn.
UK breeding:
2,500,000 territories

Identifying features:

This bird species has different identifying features depending on sex/age/season.

Great tit

Great tit adult
Feather colour: Black Blue Cream/buff Green Grey White Yellow
Leg colour: Grey
Beak: Black Short Thin
Natural habitats: Woodland Farmland Urban and suburban

Great tit (juvenile)

Juvenile Great Tit
Feather colour: Black Blue Cream/buff Green Grey White Yellow
Leg colour: Grey
Beak: Black Short Thin
Natural habitats: Woodland Farmland Urban and suburban

Similar birds:

Blue tit adult
Blue tit
Coal tit
Coal tit

Where and when to see them

Great tits can be seen in woodlands, parks and gardens across the UK. Absent only from the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland.

* This map is intended as a guide. It shows general distribution rather than detailed, localised populations.
  • Resident
  • Passage
  • Summer
  • Winter
Great tit distribution map

Great tits can be seen all year round.

  • jan
  • feb
  • mar
  • apr
  • may
  • jun
  • jul
  • aug
  • sep
  • oct
  • nov
  • dec

RSPB reserves

  • RSPB South Essex Wildlife Garden

Video

Great tit seen perching on a fence with food in its mouth and pecking at a tennis ball.

Great tit seen perching on a fence with food in its mouth and pecking at a tennis ball.

great tit
 Mute swan Cygnus olor, cygnet on adult's back seeking shelter, Langford

Save nature, donate now

  • More than 40 million birds have vanished from the UK in 50 years
  • One in ten of our wildlife is critically endangered

Within your lifetime, species such as song thrushes, cuckoos and even hedgehogs could die out altogether. As the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, the RSPB use your donations to restore habitats, protect species and save nature. Give a little today and make a big difference tomorrow. Thank you.

DONATE NOW

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