Forum Topic

Confused about tits.

What's the difference between the various tit birds that seem to frequent our gardens in Ealing?  I've looked-up the excellent bird sites on the internet, including the nice RSPB references but can't tell the difference between a blue, a great, a coal, or the various other tits that abound our gardens.  How do I tell which is which?  I'm confused.I love birds.

Gerry Tan ● 4894d52 Comments

Gerry  Blue tits have a blue oval on top  of their heads and a completely yellow breast. 4 1/2"  The Great tit looks similar but has an unmistakeable black bar running from head to tail on it's underside and is larger than the Blue. 5 1/2"  Coal tits are the smallest,mostly grey but with a white patch on the back of their black head. 4-4 1/2"  Long Tailed tit is self explanitary,but has grey black back and a nice white underside,and appears to have a ball shaped head and tiny beak. 5 1/2"  Willow tit looks like a streamlined sparrow,black head,white cheeks. I've only seen these in Mad Bess Woods Ruislip.  We had blue tits nest in our old mail box last year,successfuly fledged 10 offspring,so I've put a web cam in there,here's hoping.

Tony Wood ● 4894d

"self explanitary" !!!!??? self explanitory would be better.

Tony Wood ● 4894d

We have blue tits and great tits visiting our bird feeder.Blue tits are smaller with a distinctive blue cap and more yellow in appearance. The great tits are larger with a blacker head with white cheeks.We also get robins, wrens, blackbirds and the occasional jay.I can also hear an owl at night, but have never seen it.

John Walker ● 4894d

Thanks guys, I'm not so confused now. John, in our garden we've all the birds you mention, even the owl. In addition, we have a few but regular visits from woodpeckers, the two common finches and an occasional wild duck. A few bats(at dusk especially) dart silently in the darkening gloaming usually on warm'ish evenings. Problem is my eyesight ain't what it used to be...hence my slight confusion. I love birds.

Gerry Tan ● 4894d

A title that promised so much but was an instant disappointment

Bud Richards ● 4893d

Ha ha - dunno how to take that.  Actually, I'm patial to a weel turned ankle.

Gerry Tan ● 4893d

I thought that Gerry had found some old copies of National Geographic or 'Health and Efficiency'.

Nigel Brooks ● 4893d

Despite putting nuts etc out we haven't seen many birds in our Acton garden recently! Seeds hardly been touched.Could it be because of the few moggies who seem to be roaming around and walking on the garden wall? :-(Or maybe it is because we have more paved areas and fewer bushes in the garden. It became too much work sadly!Any ideas folks?

Jean F Fernandez ● 4893d

Although there is some garden wildlife this year, its rather sparse as in your garden.  Maybe its the prolonged coldish spring this year that's keeping the birds and wildlife rather dormant. Perhaps it'll return to nearer normal activity as the warmer weather clicks in. Lets hope so anyway.

Gerry Tan ● 4893d

The great tits look so smartly dressed.Watched a lot of baby blue tits (no blue) all lining up to take flying lessons along a telegraph wire once.  It was if they all have to leave home on the same day. So funny.  Unfortunately I wasn't the only one watching.  I hate to think how many the next door neighbour's cat lunched on. :(There was a goldcrest on my camellia the other week.  Exquisite.

Philippa Bond ● 4893d

We've had Blue tits, Great tits & Long Tailed tits in our garden. We've also hosted Redwings, Spotted & green Woodpeckers, Black caps, Sparrowhawks,Gold & Green finches and of course the usual suspects such as Robin & Blackbirds, Dunnocks etc. We also seem to have been adopted by a Squirrel who taps on the back door in order to be hand fed Peanuts. As great as they all are, however nothing tops the unexpected visit last summer (such as it was) by a Humming bird moth and the Lizard (Skink) that casually strolled across our patio. all of this despite frequent visits from various cats such as Freddo (a damned handsome long haired tabby) an equally fine looking black and white tom, a silver  haired moggie with a hint of Siamese in its genes and of course our own dedicated hunter 'Cleo'!

Robert Rosamond ● 4889d

Jean, it could easily be that there are fewer bushes. What the birds seem to do in our garden is sit in a tree or bush a little distant from the seed, and flit to and fro, maybe because they prefer a bit of cover.Just blue tits, great tits and robins this year.  We used to get goldfinches but not so far.

David Bourne ● 4889d

Robert, this is a lovely piece of writing about wildlife in our suburban gardens - thanks, I enjoyed it so much.

Gerry Tan ● 4889d

I think you are right David! I cut back a lot of bushes in the garden as it all became too much to control!Maybe if I move the large pots around the garden to different areas it might make a difference.I miss seeing the birds frequent the garden.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4889d

Ealing's a curious place for bird life Gerry. On face value it's a hellishly busy cosmopolitan town, yet the variety of feathered-and other- critters I see around here never fails to surprise me. I came downstairs one morning and noticed an odd looking bird sitting in the huge Buddleia at the corner of our patio. I grabbed the binoc's and focused them long enough to realise that it was a Sparrowhawk. The little hooligan was hiding there in the hope of making a breakfast killing out of whatever bird landed on our feeding station. It was only my movement in the kitchen that spooked it enough to fly off(empty clawed!) There can't be too many folk who've held a Green woodpecker in their hands. One clattered into our kitchen window a few months back and ended up on the ground outside of our back door in a rather stunned state. I got to it a nano-second before Ratbag (aka Cleo, our cat) reached it, and swifty plucked it from harms reach. It was a beautiful creature, quite warm and soft to hold and its heart was positively racing, but it eventually recovered enough to fly -albeit in a slightly wobbly fashion- from my hands back up into the surrounding trees.

Robert Rosamond ● 4888d

Robert, yes Ealing's an interesting place for wildlife. I got the fright of my life last week, 'cos a bird flew against the glass of the window of my study with an almighty bang(frightened the heebeegeebies outa me), as I was quietly on the keyboard.

Gerry Tan ● 4888d

I love the blackbirds who make a terrific noise throwing any fallen leaves around looking for anything interesting.  You wouldn't believe that just one fairly small bird could make such an enormous scrabbling sound.  It will bounce out into the middle of the grass keeping a watchful eye on you inside in case you think of moving any closer.Go out and do any gardening and there's bound to be a robin keeping an eye on you too!The tits seem to make visits in number.  They fly in chattering away, flit in out and around particular bushes which obviously have good things to eat in them and then fly off en masse again.There are sparrow hawks nesting on top of Charing Cross Hospital and they are being filmed by webcam.

Philippa Bond ● 4888d

Sorry it's peregrine falcons that are nesting at CXH.  Now that is something I would really like to be able to identify - all those birds of prey you see as you drive down the motorway.  There are always lots on the road to Oxford.  (And not including those non-feathered kites!)http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17826169http://www.wildlifewhisperer.tv/live-cams-profile.php?profile_id=806&type=wildcams

Philippa Bond ● 4888d

The kites are scavengers looking for carrion/road kill. A friend who lives at Stokenchurch throws his scraps in the garden and watches the kites swoop to collect without stopping.

Chris Bell ● 4887d

You don't need to go as far out as Stokenchurch now to see red kites. They're expanding their territory at quite a rate and I don't think it will be too long before we might catch a glimpse of a few adventurers on the western fringes of the borough.Several people out in Stokie feed them at regular times each day, and they are now so used to people that they will skim right over your head. They are very beautiful creatures, unlike their common name when they formerly graced British skies, shite hawks! But feeding them like this seems wrong to me. Their populations are exploding and before long they will become nuisances to some, and quite possibly the persecution will start all over again. They are wild creatures and should have no contact with humans, and should be wary, even afraid of people.

Judy Jaafar ● 4887d

Brilliant!My sister-in-law used to live in Stokenchurch once upon a time but I never thought of trying this.

Tony Colliver ● 4887d

Indeed.You are of course completely correct in your assessment.

Tony Colliver ● 4887d

I decided to relocate the bird feeder to a different area in the garden where there is an apple tree and I noticed that some bird seeds have gone from the feeder. So maybe the new location will be more inviting to our feathered friends!Just hope the local moggies don't come too near!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4887d

I hung a feeder under an overhanging rose bush but had a problem with rats picking up dropped seed from the ground, so I wired a plastic tray that had contained supermarket meat under the feeder, and I placed a large deep bin on the ground below the feeder. The rats soon started climbing the bush, eating dropped seed from the tray, then dropping into the bin and drowning in the few inches of rainwater that had collected there. I have fished out around 50 dead rats since Christmas.

Chris Bell ● 4887d

> ...50 dead rats since Christmas.Blinkin' 'eck!    http://www.google.co.uk/#newwindow=1&safe=off&hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=never+more+than+6+feet+from+a+rat

Tony Colliver ● 4886d

Forum threading failure!

Tony Colliver ● 4886d

I have a large number of goldfinches, some sparrows, and a few greenfinches visiting now, so the bluetits from my nest boxes have to muscle in at times, but the bluetits are more used to me, and one even grabbed some seed as I was topping up a feeder. There are plenty of magpies and a sparrowhawk around chasing the small birds, and I also get occasional visits from a parakeet.I have put up some other boxes more suitable for robins and sparrows, but I have not noticed any visitors.

Chris Bell ● 4886d

We're confused abt bird boxes. Are there differing sizes for certain birds? What kind of box is designed for tits, robins, sparrows etc?  Are there special ones for woodpeckers please?  I'm confused.

Gerry Tan ● 4886d

Definitely. It needs to large enough to accommodate the family. Robins prefer a fairly open entrance, some birds prefer an entrance they can only just squeeze through, sparrows are happy to nest as a colony, and most are particular about the direction it faces and location so that it does not get too hot during the day.

Chris Bell ● 4886d

Thanks Chris, there's more to watching birds and tits than meets the eye - I'm not so confused now.

Gerry Tan ● 4886d

I've witnessed this event in Stokie' and it's quite a sight to say the least. I do, however, have to agree with Judy Jaafar's opinions concerning the feeding of these delightful critters. To be honest I think there is more than one kind hearted soul in and around Stokie' doing the same thing, and the unfortunate truth is that they're not actually doing the 'Shitehawk' any favours at all in the long term. Supplementing their food with handouts on a regular basis will only assist their obvious prolific breeding habits and consequently increase the competition for local (M40 etc) road kills, which in turn means that they'll become increasingly more dependent upon human handouts to supplement increasingly meagre pickings and thus start to make a nuisance of themselves all over again...with inevitable consequences.Ma' nature has a bit of experience when it comes to regulating critter populations, but things frequently begin to go wrong when we humans (unwittingly or otherwise) start tampering with her work! 

Robert Rosamond ● 4884d

'Ole Rattus Norvegicus...smart cookies, fastidiously clean by nature (so I believe) and renowned for thinking on their paws. I have a sneaky soft spot for them as it goes...perhaps its their inherent intelligence, or the fact that they're mostly loathed?What do they (quite who 'they' are is a mystery in itself) say...we're never more than three metres from 'ole Rattus at any given time? An Ex of mine who owned a B&B had a big Rattus problem. The little sods kept popping up through the boxing in the downstairs toilet, so I decided to stake this 'small room' out from way down the hallway one night armed with a prior 'fine tuned' .22 air rifle. It got to 3.00 am and sure enough Ratty popped its head out of a hole beside some pipework, scuttled along the boxing and sat up on the hand basin in order to scope out the immediate environment. BANG...my 'fine tuned' rifle spat it's deadly lead pellet towards Ratty, missed completely of course but rather neatly removed the head of a figurine attached to a soap dish beside it. The Ex wasn't overly impressed come morning. 'Nice work Rambo' she said by way of gratitude whilst passing the toilet. She returned shortly thereafter with a tube of Super glue 'Now let's see how good you are at fixing your kill!'

Robert Rosamond ● 4884d

My friend lived alongside the M40 but has just moved away.I wanted to try to photograph the kites dropping down for carrion where they were first re-introduced near Christmas Common. On the way there I spotted two roadkill pheasants, so picked them up and threw them into a field. They were totally ignored by the kites flying above.

Chris Bell ● 4884d

Time to resurrect this fantastically titled thread.Winter's approaching and it's time to give the little critters a helping hand.I spotted a few goldfinches this morning high in a neighbour's tree so I've put out some niger seed to see if I can lure them to my bird feeders.

John Walker ● 4705d

Goldfinches appear much more wary of me than the blue tits and great tits, but they still arrive and are prepared to fight their way in against other birds.

Chris Bell ● 4705d

Despite having seed balls and water out for the birds we just haven't had any in our garden for ages. When there was an enormous tree in an adjoining garden the birds (and squirrels) were constant visitors but not any moreYoungsters play next door on a trampolene, maybe the noise facctor is keeping them away?Or perhaps too many moggies which seem to regularly foul our garden.Any ideas folks?

Jean F Fernandez ● 4705d

Had two greenfinch in the garden this morning bullying the robins.Pleased, as we have just put up some feeders in a new position and was starting to think that the birds didn't like their 'change of surroundings'.

Nigel Brooks ● 4705d

"Or perhaps too many moggies which seem to regularly foul our garden."Don't worry about cats fouling in your garden...its your youngster neighbours you should worry about, in case they foul-up your garden!  Ha ha ha.Btw, I think trampoline is the correct spelling.

Gerry Tan ● 4705d

"Time to resurrect this fantastically titled thread."Glad John you like the title of this thread. I'm still confused 'cos last week we spied a beautiful greater spotted woodpecker at our bird-feeder...I thought they went to another country in the winter. They're still around.

Gerry Tan ● 4705d

I still have no idea why birds are not coming into our garden -is there anything one can do to rectify this?

Jean F Fernandez ● 4705d

Hi Jean - I suppose the fact that you don't have any trees or large shrubs coupled with noisy kids bouncing up and down and stalking moggies will not make your garden very appealing to the birds. They do seem to be quite picky and are free to fly off to an an environment where they feel safer and natural food may be more plentiful. Not sure what you can do.

John Walker ● 4705d

Yes Jean, grow tall trees and bushy shrubs in your garden and the birds will follow!

Gerry Tan ● 4705d

Hang suet balls in the trees and bushes away from the woodpigeons and ferals and the little birdies will come...

Keith Iddon ● 4704d

Thanks for the tip Keith, I shall certainly try that and hope my little feathered friends come back!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4704d

Don't cut everything back too much.  They like seed heads and berries and often there are insects eating these as well that they feed on.

Philippa Bond ● 4704d

According to my sister some birds worry that they may catch their feet in the supporting mesh and suggests placing the ball itself in another holder. However the only time I have seen a bird trapped like that it was in a fairly standard peanut feeder. I supported its other foot to help free it and it flew off.

Chris Bell ● 4704d

I have been doing this for 15 years with no evidence of that.I have made a couple of hooks from wire and attatched them at points of the branches where a birdy can get to the food whilst standing on another branch or twig.Seems to work ok.When I go out in the morning they can see me go to where I keep the food and they usually start their chirping to let their mates know that breakfast is about to be served.

Keith Iddon ● 4704d

There was mayhem in 'Le Jardin de John Walker' yesterday.A bird flew into my back window and I could see birds spiralling and shrieking in panic - then I saw the culprit: a yellow eyed, hook beaked sparrowhawk.The hawk wasn't successful as I think the numerous tits, finches, robins and collar doves have relative security in numbers. I did spot a small pile of feathers a few weeks back, so I guess my garden is on the hawk's radar.

John Walker ● 4704d

You haven't been sellotaping bread crumbs to the window have you John..;-)Nice to see a sparrowhawk I'll bet..

Keith Iddon ● 4704d

I have a feeder hidden in a large rose bush, and a sparrowhawk still managed to catch one of the birds at the feeder. It sometimes perches close by ready to attack, and I can see the small birds trying to figure out how to get in. I have placed a second feeder some way away and out of sight from the first.

Chris Bell ● 4704d

I made a mixture of suet and mealworms which I put into a small aluminium tray that had contained a Lidl egg custard(very nice too btw)and I hung it in a tree.The birds seem to like it.

Keith Iddon ● 4704d

Oh yes, quite a thrill! They're handsome beasts.

John Walker ● 4704d