| Blue tit - Parus caeruleus - Family: Paridae
 Blue tit - Parus caeruleus© English NatureBlue tits are one of the commonest and most familiar of British birds, being highly adaptable and able to exploit man-made environments. They are frequent visitors to garden feeding stations and are often seen clinging to garden walls, sheds and houses picking off tiny insects and spiders. Studies by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) have shown, amazingly, that as many as 1000 blue tits may visit a garden bird table during a single winter! Blue tits have a blue crown and nape with white cheeks, a black eye-stripe and bib. The back is green and the tail and wings blue, with the latter being barred with white. The breast and belly are yellow. Blue tits inhabit a range of wooded habitats including deciduous woods, parks, gardens, orchards and scrub. They nest in holes in trees or walls and often use nest boxes. They breed from late April and have just one brood a year, with the timing of hatching co-ordinated with the period of greatest abundance of caterpillars. In gardens, about nine eggs are laid, typically. Blue tits account for a large number of aphids and are very useful to the gardener, as well as entertaining. Females about to lay eggs may feed on the broken shells of snails to get the necessary calcium. FoodFeed mainly on insects and small spiders during breeding season and also on fruit, berries, seeds, nuts and food provided by humans at other times. Predator of spiders and harvestmen, flies, weevils and sawflies. PlantsBroom, Bulrush, Goat willow, Honeysuckle, Lesser bulrush, Pedunculate oak, Sessile oak, Silver birch, Spindle PreyAphids, Beetles, Bugs, Butterflies, Flies, Froghoppers and leafhoppers, Mosquitoes and midges, Moths, Sawflies, Small tortoiseshell, Spiders and harvestmen PredatorsCarrion crow, Grey squirrel, Little owl, Sparrowhawk |
