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9 Interesting Facts about Blue Tits

Chances are you’ll see more than a few blue tits in your garden this year. They’re one of the most common birds in the UK. If you’d like to know more about these beautiful garden visitors, take a look at our 9 blue tit facts:

#1 Blue tits are one of our most instantly recognisable garden birds. Their blue, yellow, white and green plumage make them a very attractive garden visitor. Females and juveniles are usually a little less vibrant in colour than males.

#2 Blue tits are on average 12cm in length. They have an 18cm wingspan. And they tend to weigh just 11g – that’s around the same as a £2 coin or an AAA battery.  

#3 Blue tits are common throughout the whole of the UK, with just a few exceptions. You won’t find blue tits on the Scottish islands of Orkney or Shetland.

#4 Blue tits eat insects, seeds and nuts. They particularly love peanuts and can often be found flocking around garden peanut feeders. When it comes to feeding their young, however, they seek out moth caterpillars and are prepared to travel a fair distance to find them.

#5 During mating season, a male blue tit will fluff out his feathers and rotate backwards and forwards, his head tilted back slightly. He may also bring foodie treats such as caterpillars to try and tempt a female.

#6 British blue tits stay in the UK all year round. In fact, they rarely move far from where they first hatched. Sometimes their numbers are increased by migratory blue tits from northern Europe.

#7 Blue tits are social birds. They can be spotted in flocks of up to 20 strong and are often seen feeding alongside other bird species, including goldcrests and great tits.

#8 Female blue tits usually lay around 7 to 13 eggs in a clutch. However, clutches as large as 19 eggs have been recorded. The first clutches of the season are laid in late April.

#9 The blue tit will happily set up home in a nest box. They choose boxes with smaller holes (around 25mm in diameter) so larger, more dominant bird species don’t try to muscle in. They can also be seen inspecting nest boxes early in the year and using them as a winter roost.

Encouraging blue tits to visit your garden is easy. Just provide plenty of peanuts and an inviting nest box and you’re sure to see more of them over the year to come.

Feeding the birds in Summer

There’s a longstanding myth that birds don’t need to be fed during the summer. According to the RSPB, this just isn’t true.

In winter, birds sometimes rely completely on the food we leave out for them. Food is scarce and sometimes it’s hidden under snow and ice.

Food is certainly more abundant during summer months. But it’s around this time that our garden birds are raising and feeding their chicks. They then go on to moult. All of this activity requires a lot of energy.

The RSPB recommends feeding birds little and often in the summer as a way to help them and their young through this busy period. When it comes to feeding your birds in summer, here are a few foods to provide and a few you should avoid:  

Foods to Provide

Mealworms
Lots of birds, including robins and thrushes, will make a beeline for mealworms. They’re packed with protein and moisture and provide the perfect food for growing chicks. You can buy live mealworms or dried mealworms. If you choose the latter, you’ll need to soak them in water before putting them out for the birds.

Fruit
Fruits like raisins, sultanas, apples and pears are a great source of energy for birds, especially when they’re going a little soft. You can halve fruit and leave it on the ground or the bird table. Properly rotten fruit is unlikely to attract them, however.

Seed Mixes
High quality summer seed mixes provide a range of nutrients for your garden birds. Sunflower seeds are a favourite amongst many birds. They provide lots of protein and unsaturated fats. Niger seeds, which have a high oil content, are also popular, particularly amongst finches.

Foods to Avoid

Fatty Foods
Homemade fat balls can quickly melt and turn bad in the heat of a summer’s day. So whilst fat balls and other fatty foods are invaluable in winter months, they’re best avoided in summer.

Whole Peanuts
Birds love unsalted peanuts. They are rich in fat, very tasty and popular with tits, finches and nuthatches. But at this time of year they should always be chopped finely or crushed. Parents may try to feed whole peanuts to their young, who may then choke whilst trying to eat them.

When feeding the birds in summer, provide a rich and varied diet. Don’t allow bird food to go bad. And avoid any foods that could cause harm to young birds still in the nest.  

Springtime Nesting: How do Birds Build a Nest?

Around March and April you may see your garden birds carrying items back and forth as they work to build a nest. Usually the process only takes a few days. But the finished structure is always something of a marvel. These homes are strong enough to hold eggs, hatchlings and their parents. But they’re built using just a beak. So just how do birds build such impressive nests?

Who’s Job Is It?
On the whole, its female birds who build a nest although they may sometimes get some help from their mate. In contrast, it’s the male wren who builds a nest. He gathers moss, dry grass and dead leaves to make a number of dome-shaped homes. Then he hands over responsibility to the hen, who will select the nest she likes best and work to line it with feathers.

Mud and Moss
Robins, song thrushes and blackbirds all nest in hedgerows where they can be safe from predators. They all use a similar nest building style too. They weave grasses and small twigs together to create a structure. This is then made more stable (and more camouflaged) with mud and moss.

Cobwebs
A collection of twigs isn’t so steady. Some birds use sticky spiders’ webs to hold their nests together. Chaffinches nest in trees so spider webs help to anchor the nest to branches. Long tailed tits create an elaborate enclosed nest where moss is held together with cobwebs.

Ready-Made Residences
Other birds take life a little easier and make use of pre-existing structures. Tits and owls like to set up home in tree trunks, where a handy hole provides the perfect base. Starlings and house sparrows find spaces in rooves. With a structure like this to work with, it doesn’t take much to make things cosy. Adding a little grass or moss will do the trick.

Other Additions
Birds work hard to make their nests comfortable. And they’ll make use of almost anything they can lay their beaks on. Wool, clothing fibres, animal fur and human hair are all commonly found in birds’ nests. Blackbird nests are often found to include materials like string and even sweet wrappers.

Boxwild filling

We include wood shavings in our gift boxes as filling, simply pop this in a fatball feeder and watch the birds come and collect bits as they build their nests!

For many nesting birds, privacy is a priority. They want to be safe from predators. This means it’s not always possible to see nest building in action. But keep your eyes peeled this spring and you may see your garden birds collecting the materials they need to make their home sweet home.

Dispelling the myth - why feeding the birds in Summer is important

There’s a longstanding myth that birds don’t need to be fed during the summer. According to the RSPB, this just isn’t true.

In winter, birds sometimes rely completely on the food we leave out for them. Food is scarce and sometimes it’s hidden under snow and ice.

Food is certainly more abundant during summer months. But it’s around this time that our garden birds are raising and feeding their chicks. They then go on to moult. All of this activity requires a lot of energy.

The RSPB recommends feeding birds little and often in the summer as a way to help them and their young through this busy period. When it comes to feeding your birds in summer, here are a few foods to provide and a few you should avoid:  

Foods to Provide

Mealworms
Lots of birds, including robins and thrushes, will make a beeline for mealworms. They’re packed with protein and moisture and provide the perfect food for growing chicks. You can buy live mealworms or dried mealworms. If you choose the latter, you’ll need to soak them in water before putting them out for the birds.

Fruit
Fruits like raisins, sultanas, apples and pears are a great source of energy for birds, especially when they’re going a little soft. You can halve fruit and leave it on the ground or the bird table. Properly rotten fruit is unlikely to attract them, however.

Seed Mixes
High quality summer seed mixes like the ones from us, provide a range of nutrients for your garden birds. Sunflower seeds are a favourite amongst many birds. They provide lots of protein and unsaturated fats. Niger seeds, which have a high oil content, are also popular, particularly amongst finches.

Foods to Avoid

Fatty Foods
Homemade fat balls can quickly melt and turn bad in the heat of a summer’s day. So whilst fat balls and other fatty foods are invaluable in winter months, they’re best avoided in summer.

Whole Peanuts
Birds love unsalted peanuts. They are rich in fat, very tasty and popular with tits, finches and nuthatches. But at this time of year they should always be chopped finely or crushed. Parents may try to feed whole peanuts to their young, who may then choke whilst trying to eat them.

When feeding the birds in summer, provide a rich and varied diet. Don’t allow bird food to go bad. And avoid any foods that could cause harm to young birds still in the nest.  

Britain could create “Insect Corridor” to Protect Pollinators

More than two thirds of Britain’s pollinators – such as bees, butterflies and moths – are currently in decline. And there are 35 species of native bees that face extinction. In a bid to protect these pollinating insects, the “Protection of Pollinators Bill” was presented to the House of Commons this month.

What is the “Protection of Pollinators Bill”?
The “Protection of Pollinators Bill” calls for councils, landowners and the public to help in creating an insect corridor throughout the whole of the UK. This wildlife-friendly highway would increase the habitats insects have available to them. It would also allow them to spread freely around the country.

The insect corridor would be created by giving over waste ground to wildflower meadows. Roadside verges and areas of public grassland would also be left to grow wild. The charity Buglife, which is already working with the government’s Environment Agency, have started to introduce “B-Lines” – insect pathways that will form the basis for the new national scheme.

Why are Insect Corridors so Important?
MP Ben Bradley introduced the bill in Parliament. He said that pollinating insects are facing numerous challenges. Farming, pesticides, the expansion of urban areas and climate change are all taking their toll on our pollinators.

“They need food, water, shelter and nesting areas,” he said, “As well as the ability to roam far and wide - as they would naturally without the barriers placed in their way as a result of urban sprawl.”

Insect corridors could help to revive insect populations. They’d be beneficial to humans too. We rely on bees, butterflies and moths to pollinate our flowers and food. And a little more green space is good for our own wellbeing.

What you can do to Help Pollinators
We still don’t know whether the “Protection of Pollinators Bill” will become government policy. But while we wait to find out, you can do your bit to protect the pollinators in your garden. Here are a few things you can do to make your garden more welcoming to insects:

• Plant pollinator-friendly flowers. They should be rich in nectar and flower throughout the spring, summer and autumn.
• Leave areas of your garden to go wild. Overgrown grass and wildflowers provide a great habitat for pollinators.
• Provide hidey-holes and insect nests for your garden pollinators. They look for cosy spaces in which to hide from predators, lay their eggs and hibernate.
• We have a selection of boxes to support wildlife: Birds and the Bees Gift Box and our Butterfly and Bug Lovers Gift Box

Pollinators are important for our gardens and the wider ecosystem. Insect corridors could help them to overcome current threats to their survival and thrive once again throughout the country.

How to Tell if You Have a Hedgehog in Your Garden

Hedgehogs are elusive creatures. Because they are nocturnal, you might not always know a hedgehog has taken up residence in your garden. If you suspect that a hedgehog might be wandering around your garden at night, look out for these tracks and signs:

Footprints
Hedgehogs weigh around 1kg but they don’t leave footprints unless the ground is very soft. You could check muddy patches of the lawn and flowerbeds. Alternatively, set up your own footprint trap.

Prints are usually around 2.5cm long and 2.8cm wide. Both front and back feet have five toes but only four show up in tracks. Front footprints look like little handprints. Back footprints are longer and slimmer.

Droppings
Hedgehog droppings are a sure fire sign you have hedgehogs in your garden. Their poo is usually quite dark in colour, due to their diet of beetles. And you may even be able to spot the exoskeletons of invertebrates packed within them. Droppings are usually found on their own and range in length from 15mm to 50mm.

Disturbed Foliage
Hedgehogs leave a trail as they move around. Look for areas of your garden where small tunnels have been forged through the undergrowth. If you suspect a hedgehog has set up home in your garden log pile or compost heap, you could place a few large leaves over the entrance in the evening and check to see if they’re still in place the following morning.

Noise
Hedgehogs make more noise than you might think. If you go outside at night time and listen carefully, you may be able to hear snuffling and shuffling in the undergrowth. Spring is an especially good time to hear hedgehogs in your garden. During this season males can get quite loud as they fight over females.

Install a Camera
These days, it’s possible to buy a wildlife camera that will help you to spot nocturnal garden visitors from the comfort and warmth of your own home. Night vision and motion activated cameras help you to easily see which animals are roaming your garden at night.

If you’d like to welcome hedgehogs into your garden, provide the best hedgehog food. Try to avoid these garden hedgehog hazards and provide a hedgehog thoroughfare, allowing hedgehogs to enter your garden from neighbouring properties. Then keep an eye and an ear out at night and early each morning to discover signs that hedgehogs are on the move.

Boxwild has two boxes for anyone who loves Hedgehogs