Species profile

Name: the marsh tit (Poecile palustris) is a songbird that is closely related to the willow tit.

Appearance: marsh tits have black crowns and necks, pale cheeks, brown backs, and greyish-brown wings. They can be difficult to tell apart from willow tits, especially in the UK where the local subspecies of marsh and willow tits are so similar they weren’t recognised as separate species until 1897.

Size: they are small birds measuring around 12 cm long and weighing 12 g.

Diet: they mostly eat spiders and insects in spring and summer and seeds, nuts, and berries in autumn and winter.

Did you know: marsh tits collect and store large numbers of seeds for eating in the winter. A study in Norway recorded them storing 83 seeds every hour! Hiding places include leaf litter, tree stumps, and under moss and lichen. The hidden seeds are prone to being stolen by other marsh tits, so they often fly from one site to another before deciding on a hiding place. Once hidden they memorise the location and retrieve the oldest items first. This needs a huge amount of brainpower, and is reflected by the size of their hippocampus – around 30% bigger than those of great tits!

Location: they are found in moist broadleaved woodland, often oak or beach, riverside trees, parks, and gardens throughout temperate Europe and northern Asia.

Where to see marsh tits

According to reports submitted to WildSide, you can see marsh tits in the following places:

Photo credit: susannp4 under a Creative Commons licence from Pixabay