Great Tit

Listen to example recordings of the main vocalisations of Great Tit, provided by xeno-canto contributors.

This species can be found on the following statutory and conservation listings and schedules.

UK Birds of Conservation Concern	Green listed
Species of European Conservation Concern	Least Concern
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (global)	Least Concern
Schedule 1 license required (to disturb)	No
Birds Directive Annex 1	No
Listed on the Annexes of	Bern(III)

Great Tit numbers have increased fairly steadily since the 1960s, with the exception of two or three brief periods of stability or shallow decline. The BBS map of change in relative density between 1994-96 and 2007-09 indicates that increase during that period occurred throughout the UK range. A new strain of avian pox, first recorded in 2006, is increasing in Great Tits but without evidence so far of demographic effects (Lawson et al. 2012a, 2018). Laying dates have advanced by nine days since 1968. Earlier nesting can be linked to the phenology of spring greening in woodland, though with much small-scale spatial variation (Cole et al. 2015). There has been an increase across Europe since 1980 (PECBMS: PECBMS 2020a>).

UK breeding population

+82% increase (1967–2022)

Great Tits occur in 90% of 10-km squares in Britain & Ireland in both winter and the breeding season. As with the Blue Tit, the only significant range gaps are in treeless moorland areas of the Scottish Highlands, the Outer Hebrides and Northern Isles. Densities are highest in lowland wooded landscapes of England, Wales and parts of eastern Ireland.

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Occupied 10-km squares in UK

No. occupied in breeding season	2721
% occupied in breeding season	90
No. occupied in winter	2723
% occupied in winter	90

European Distribution Map

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2

Breeding Season Habitats

Most frequent in	Deciduous Wood
Also common in	Villages

Relative frequency by habitat

Relative occurrence in different habitat types during the breeding season.

Change in range size has been small over the last 40 years, but in many parts of the range, and especially in Ireland, there have been large increases in abundance.

Great Tit is recorded throughout the year on up to 60% of complete lists.

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report.

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Maximum Age from Ringing	10 years 5 months 18 days (set in 2006)
Typical Lifespan	3 years with breeding typically at 1 year
Adult Survival	0.542±0.011   (Male: 0.583±0.028 Female: 0.555±0.034)
Juvenile Survival	0.38 (in first year)

Wing Length	Adults	75±3.8 | Range 71–79mm, N=53986
	Juveniles	74.5±2.1 | Range 71-78mm, N=34300
	Males	76.5±4.7 | Range 73–79mm, N=27388
	Females	73.5±1.8 | Range 71–76mm, N=26096

Body Weight	Adults	18.6±2.8 | Range 16.6–20.8g, N=42606
	Juveniles	18.6±3.1 | Range 16.6–20.6g, N=27373
	Males	19.1±3.3 | Range 17.3–21.0g, N=21527
	Females	18.1±2 | Range 16.3–20.2g, N=20699

Feather measurements and photos on featherbase

Ring size	A or B (pulli B)
Field Codes	2-letter: GT | 5-letter code: GRETI | Euring: 14640

For information in another language (where available) click on a linked name

Causes of change

Demographic trends in breeding parameters do not suggest that increases in this species are due to improvements in breeding performance. There is some evidence, albeit limited, that improvements in survival rates, due to amelioration in wintering conditions, may have been responsible. Evidence for ecological drivers of the population increase is limited but increased provisioning in gardens and milder winters may have played a role.

Further information on causes of change

The number of fledglings per breeding attempt have decreased alongside decreases in clutch and brood sizes (see above). Daily failure rates at the egg stage have also decreased but daily failure rates at the chick stage has not changed. Consequently, breeding success does not contribute substantially to population change, and integrated modelling confirms that variation in adult survival is the primary driver of annual population change (Robinson et al. 2014).

Increases in survival rates, due to more widespread food provision in gardens during winter is one possible explanation for the increase (Plummer et al. 2019). Horak & Lebreton (1998) found that survival rates in Estonia were higher in urban populations than rural ones and suggested that this was partly due to supplementary feeding in gardens. Increasing winter temperature may have also played a role. Ahola et al. (2009) suggested that, for their study population in Sweden, increasingly favourable conditions in winters have enhanced the survival rates of Great Tit and resulted in the observed increase in Great Tit breeding density.

Other factors are also likely to influence survival rates. There is some evidence that the beech crop may be influential and it has been shown that survival rates can be related to beechmast production (Verhulst 1992, Perdeck et al. 2000), although there is no evidence that beechmast production has gone up. Perdeck et al. (2000) provided further evidence for this as supplemental food increased survival of both juveniles and adults, supporting the winter-food limitation hypothesis. In a Finnish population, Orell (1989) reported that the high survival rates of resident juveniles after a warm August may be attributable to food availability during the time when the birds undergo their post-juvenile moult.

Great Tits have advanced their laying date, in line with climatic change. This has been found by several studies (e.g. Sanz 2002, Visser et al. 2009, Bauer et al. 2010), but does not seem to be influencing the population trend. Intraspecific competition may also drive population changes in Great tits (Gamelon et al. 2019), and there is evidence that density-dependent effects influence clutch size, hatching success and fledging success, which may explain the decreases observed in clutch size as fledging rates as the population has increased (Bodey et al. 2020). Severe weather events are expected to become more frequent as a result of climate change and conditions such as heavy and persistent rainfall can also be an important driver of Great Tit breeding success (Scholl et al. 2020); however, there is no evidence that this has driven population change.

Information about conservation actions

Like its close relative the Blue Tit, the population of this species has increased since the 1970s, hence it is not a species of concern and no conservation actions are currently required. However, it has experienced a shallow decline over the last ten years and therefore ongoing monitoring would be prudent.

Ongoing provision of garden bird food is likely to continue to benefit the Great Tit. However, the effects are not always entirely positive and feeders may contribute to the spread of avian pox, so those providing food should ensure they follow good hygiene practices. The provision of nest boxes, both in gardens and elsewhere, is also likely to continue to benefit this species.