Alert Status:
Red -45% decline
Estimated number of territories: 28,500
Listen to Marsh Tit song:
Marsh tits have grey/brown upperparts and wings with the tail slightly darker as well as a black cap and bib and white cheeks that spread onto their nape. While they look very similar to the willow tit, there are a few features that allow us to tell them apart. Marsh tits have a glossier cap and a tidier bib under their bill, a white edge to their bill which can only be seen very close up, and their songs are slightly different.
Average Length: 11.5 cm
Average Lifespan: 2 Years
Average Wingspan: 17 - 19 cm
Their diet mainly consists of insects and seeds, and if they find a good supply of food then they have been known to store food for later. They will often visit garden feeders.
How to feed: At garden feeders or tables.
What to feed: Any type of small seed mix or meal worms.
Marsh Tits are monogamous and pair for life, with their breeding season starting in late March. They begin building their cup-shaped nests in existing holes, sometimes reusing previous nesting holes, in trees but will make use of nest boxes. 7-9 eggs are laid and incubated for 14-16 days by the female before hatching, after which they remain in the nest for a further 3 weeks before fledging. As their breeding season is short and ends in June, they usually only produce one brood, but if conditions allow, they may produce two. Fledglings usually stay nearby and only undertake short dispersal of a few kilometres, sometimes only a few hundred metres.
Widespread population declines in this species have led to it being red-listed in 2022. Marsh tits have suffered from habitat loss caused by urbanisation and the reduction in woodland quality caused by the replacement of deciduous forests with conifer. As they have large territories that they defend year-round, they require large areas of woodland which are rare due to fragmentation and habitat loss. Increased competition with other more common tits has possibly led to decreases in this species, but these effects are likely small. One of the most worrying factors is their extremely slow colonisation rate and short-distance dispersal. This means that even if suitable habitats are created then it may take them years to colonise these areas.
Petitioning local areas to protect natural deciduous woodland.
Providing food and water year-round in your gardens.
Installing nest boxes to ensure they have nesting sites outside of natural holes in trees.
Marsh Tits are one of the few tits known to store food. Their large hippocampus (the area of the brain that helps remember) is larger than the bigger Great tit.
BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Poecile palustris. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/marsh-tit-poecile-palustris. Accessed: 11/09/2023.
British trust for ornithology (no date) Marsh tit | BTO - British trust for ornithology. Available at: https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/marsh-tit. Accessed: 11/09/2023.
Broughton, R. K. (2009). Separation of Willow Tit and Marsh Tit in Britain: a review. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275584064
Broughton, R. K., Hill, R. A., Freeman, S. N., Bellamy, P. E., & Hinsley, S. A. (2012). Describing habitat occupation by woodland birds with territory mapping and remotely sensed data: An example using the Marsh Tit (Poecile palustris). Condor, 114(4), 812–822. https://doi.org/10.1525/cond.2012.110171
Broughton, R. K., Hinsley, S. A., Bellamy, P. E., Hill, R. A., & Rothery, P. (2006). Marsh Tit Poecile palustris territories in a British broad-leaved wood. Ibis, 148(4), 744–752. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00583.x
RSPB (no date) Marsh tit bird facts: Poecile palustris, The RSPB. Available at: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/marsh-tit Accessed: 11/09/2023.
Wesołowski, T. (2006). Nest-site re-use: Marsh Tit Poecile palustris decisions in a primeval forest. Bird Study, 53(3), 199–204. https://doi.org/10.1080/00063650609461434
Wesołowski, T. (2014). Dispersal in an extensive continuous forest habitat: Marsh Tit Poecile palustris in the Białowieża National Park. Journal of Ornithology, 156(2), 349–361. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-014-1109-x
Wesołowski, T. (2023). Weather, food and predation shape the timing of Marsh Tit breeding in primaeval conditions: a long-term study. Journal of Ornithology, 164(2), 253–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-022-02003-1
Woodward,I., Aebischer, N., Burnell, D., Eaton, M., Frost, T., Hall, C., Stroud, D.A.& Noble, D. (2020). Population estimates of birds in Great Britain and theUnited Kingdom. British Birds. 113: 69–104. https://britishbirds.co.uk
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