Alert Status:
Red - 85% decline ↓
Estimated number of UK breeding
pairs: 2750 (updated 2016)
Listen to willow tit song:
Willow tits are between blue tits and great tits in size and have grey upperparts tails and wings with lighter grey/buff underparts. They have black caps on their heads and white cheeks. Males and females loos the same and they look very similar to Marsh tits. Willow tits have a slightly different call but this can take practice to differentiate. Their chosen habitat is also slightly different with willow tits preferring young, damp woodland with old dead wood interspersed. Willow tits have a pale panel on their wings which marsh tits do not have, however, you will need a good view of the bird to see this!
Average Length: 11.5 cm
Average Lifespan: 3 Years
Average Wingspan: 17-19 cm
Willow tits primarily eat invertebrates but when invertebrate numbers drop in autumn and winter they will eat berries and seeds. Willow tits will visit garden feeders.
How to feed them: On any bird feeder or feeding table.
What to feed them: Willow tits love sunflower seeds but will eat any bird mix. Having berry bushes in your garden will also attract these birds.
Willow tits begin breeding in April and form pairs which will last for life. Both males and females build a nest from grass, animal hair, and feathers. Willow tits can lay up to 8 eggs in the nest which are incubated by the female for 14 days. Once hatched the chicks are fed by both parents for another 17-19 days. Once they can fly the chicks will disperse a few kilometres from the nest. Willow tits only produce one brood per season.
Willow tits are declining more than any other resident bird species in the UK. The main driver of this decline is habitat loss and habitat change. These changes include management changes involving the removal of dead wood and the drying of our woodlands caused by changes in weather. Further declines are caused by competition with other tits that force willow tits out of their nest holes and increased predation by Greater Spotted Woodpeckers. The small range and dispersal distance of willow tits make these issues even more significant.
Provide clean water and food for these birds if you live near a population.
Petition local areas to protect wet woodland habitats in the UK.
If you can, visit and donate to reserves that work to conserve this species.
Male and females willow tits excavate holes in dead willow or birch trees and use the wood chips to build their nest. These nest holes can be used again in the future or used by other species in the future.
BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Poecile montanus. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/willow-tit-poecile-montanus. Accessed: 12/10/2023.
British trust for ornithology (2023) Willow tit | BTO - British trust for ornithology. Available at: https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/willow-tit. Accessed: 12/10/2023.
Broughton, R. K. (2009). Separation of Willow Tit and Marsh Tit in Britain: a review. British Birds. 102(11): 604-616. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275584064
Broughton, R. K., Hill, R. A., & Hinsley, S. A. (2013). Relationships between patterns of habitat cover and the historical distribution of the Marsh Tit, Willow Tit and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Britain. Ecological Informatics, 14, 25–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ECOINF.2012.11.012
Kumpula, S., Vatka, E., Orell, M., & Rytkönen, S. (2023). Effects of forest management on the spatial distribution of the willow tit (Poecile montanus). Forest Ecology and Management, 529, 120694. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.FORECO.2022.120694
Lampila, S., Markku, A. E., Ae, O., Belda, E., & Koivula, K. (2006). Importance of adult survival, local recruitment and immigration in a declining boreal forest passerine, the willow tit Parus montanus. Oecologia. 148(3):405-413. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0386-3
Lewis, A. J. G., Amar, A., Cordi-Piec, D., & Thewlis, R. M. (2007). Factors influencing Willow Tit Poecile montanus site occupancy: a comparison of abandoned and occupied woods. Ibis, 149(S2):,205–213. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1474-919X.2007.00733.X
RSPB (2023) Willow Tit, RSPB. Available at: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/willow-tit. Accessed: 12/10/2023.
Wilman, E. A. (2023). Bird feeding and biodiversity: The decline of the Willow Tit. Ecological Economics. 213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107964
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