The Wildlife of
Wallington

 
Home
A-Z Index
Statistics

Tits, Nuthatches and Tree Creepers - The Marsh Tit

First seen on Wednesday 17th July 2019 at Wallington

The Marsh Tit is a very pretty little bird, but it is often confused with the extremely similar Willow Tit which is the less common of the two (although in the north-east they are actually more common). They are nearly identical but the Willow Tit has a larger bib that blurs down its chest, whereas this one has a very small neat black bib under his beak. There are also even more subtle differences, such as this Marsh Tit having a small white spot at the base of its beak. Of course they have a very different song, which is always often the best way to identify a bird. This one was calling with an intermittent "pit-chew" noise (not unlike a squeaky toy).


 

I've only even seen them from the Wildlife hide at Wallington. When they come to the feeders they will usually fly in, take a seed and then fly away again, rarely staying long. This one however, stopped for at least four seeds...