Blue Tit Bird UK: Identification, Habitat & Nesting

Among the most frequent garden guests are blue tit. Content to breed in fake nest boxes positioned in gardens and eat from seed feeders. They visit most British gardens, according to the BTO bird survey.

Blue Tit Identification

Measurements in length: 12 cm

Being the only tit with blue wings, tail, and crown, it may be easily recognized. The blue tit has white cheeks and a golden chest. A black line circles the cheeks, nape, and through the eye. The blue crown is surrounded by a white border, and the back has a greenish color with yellow coloring on the rump. The legs are a rich slate blue, and the bill is black with a brownish tip.

The coloration of the female is little less vibrant.

The cheeks of young blue tits are yellowish, while their upper portions are more greenish-brown.

Blue tit call and song

The most common of the several calls is a reprimand, “tsee-tsee-tseet.” The tune is a jovial “tsu-tsuhu-hu.”

When and where do blue tits nest?

Mid-April is when breeding begins. They normally build their nests in trees or walls, although they can also build them in nest boxes and banks. A nest is a cup surrounded with grass, moss, feathers, and hair and lined with down, feathers, and hair. The female constructs the nest and lays seven to twelve eggs, perhaps as much as sixteen. Their colour is a shiny, flawless white with varying amounts of reddish-brown or purple-red speckles. For twelve to sixteen days, the female will be the only one to incubate the eggs. The young stay in the nest for fifteen to twenty-three days, and both provide care for them.

Blue tit nesting habitats

In addition to nesting in nest boxes in gardens, blue tits often make their homes in tree holes. They deposit five to twelve white eggs with red specks in their nests between March and June. After two weeks of incubation, these hatch, the young fledge after eighteen days, and within four weeks, they are completely self-sufficient. Depending on the availability of food in their immediate environment, blue tits may give birth to one or two broods annually.

Blue tit habitat

With the exception of certain Scottish islands, blue tits are present all year round across the United Kingdom. Common habitats for blue tits are parks, gardens, hedgerows, and woodlands.

They especially enjoy places where there are lots of trees, but they will also gladly settle on farms and marshes where there is an abundance of food. The reason why Eurasian blue tits are restricted to Europe and western Asia is because they have an affinity for these circumstances.

Create or purchase a nest box with a hole that is around 25 mm diameter if you wish to draw them to your garden. Next, place it 2–4 meters up a wall or tree, where cats cannot reach it and there is room in front of the opening. To prevent direct sunlight, it’s also ideal to position the box so that it faces northeast or lies in a shaded area. Additionally, slightly tilt the box forward so that falling rain will hit the ceiling as opposed to flooding the nest inside.

What do blue tits eat?

While blue tits primarily consume insects, caterpillars, nuts, seeds, and fruits, they will also appreciate additional food offered in gardens, such as mealworms, peanuts, seeds, and suet balls (such as our insect-flavored suet balls). Another option is our suet bird feed mix, which is a delectable seed mixture enhanced with suet titbits.

Where should you feed blue tits?

Feeder

Preferably taller than one meter

Table

Covered or open at the top

Ground

Unsuitable

How long do blue tits live?

The current known record for this species is 10 years! Approximately two thirds of juvenile blue tits do not survive the first year of life. Those that do tend to live for about three years!

Where do blue tits go in winter?

Even in the worst of winters, the majority of blue tits remain near their hatching location rather than migrating.

These birds will gather in groups to stay warm during the winter months by hiding in bushes and trees. In order to stay warm, some blue tits will also use nest boxes.

Where do blue tits sleep?

Typically, blue tits spend their nights in hedgerows, bushes, or trees where they are safe from potential predators.

How to attract blue tits to your garden

Similar to other birds, this one can be drawn into your garden with food. Particularly fond of eating mixed seeds, mealworms, and peanuts from suspended bird feeders are blue tits.

Additionally, you can attract this species to your landscape by planting bushes and flowers. Brightly coloured berry bushes draw insects, which in turn draw blue tits. Hawthorn and elder trees are usually preferred, and in the fall, blue tits graze on their berries.