British Willow Tit - 1949 status

Parus atricapillus keinschmidti

Unknown in Mathew's day.  The only records are of a nest near Haverfordwest in 1925 (W.M.Congreve British Birds XIX,96), and one singing Clarbeston 8 Aug 1939 (Bertram Lloyd, British Birds XXXIV, 221).

R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society

Willow Tit - 2003-07

The Willow Tit has a black cap and bib like the Marsh Tit but the cap is dull, not glossy, and it has a pale wing panel. It also has a distinctive, irascible sounding, “chay - chay” call. Willow Tits inhabit boggy thickets and damp woodland where dead and rotten branches enable them to excavate their nest holes.

According to the BBS the Willow Tit decreased in the UK by 65% between 1994 and 2004, from what was considered to be a stable population in the 1980’s. It was estimated that there were 200 – 300 pairs in the county at the close of the 1984-88 survey, based on an estimated density of two to three pairs per occupied tetrad.

The 2003-07 survey found their Pembrokeshire distribution had decreased by 54%, suggesting there were about 120 pairs by the end of 2007. The most likely causes of decline are competition with other tit species, increasing nest predation by Great Spotted Woodpeckers, and deterioration in the quality of woodland as feeding habitat for Willow Tits (www.bto.org/birdtrends2006/wcrwilti.htm)

Graham Rees

Fieldwork 2003-07 (based on 490 tetrads) 

Red = breeding confirmed = 7

Orange = breeding probable = 30

Yellow = breeding possible = 12

Total tetrads in which registered = 49 10%)

Willow Tit - 1994

Breeding resident

The Willow Tit was not separated from the Marsh Tit until 1897 so it was unknown to Mathew (1894). W.M. Congreve found a nest near Haverfordwest in 1925 (Lockley et al. 1949) and Lloyd encountered the species twice in Pembrokeshire, in 1931 and 1939. They were found around the Tenby area in 1961 and by 1964 Donovan (1965) was able to note that they were widely distributed, later adding that they were to be found in boggy thickets (Condry 1970). The Breeding Birds Survey of 1984-1988 found most Willow Tits in boggy thickets, but some occurred in woodland where soft timber was present. Experience suggests an average density of two to three pairs per tetrad and a total county population of about 200-300 pairs.

Local birds appear to be sedentary, not having reached the islands, but a bird showing the plumage characteristics of the Northern race, P. m. borealis, was reported from Nevem on 16 November 1986.

Fieldwork 1984-88 (based on 478 tetrads) 

Red = breeding confirmed = 40

Orange = breeding probable = 30

Yellow = breeding possible = 36

Total tetrads in which registered = 106 (22.2%)

Donovan J.W. & Rees G.H (1994), Birds of Pembrokeshire

Willow Tit - 1970s breeding

Red = breeding confirmed

Orange = breeding probable

Yellow = breeding possible

Willow Tit - 1980s winter

  The BTO winter atlas showed that Willow Tits were present in the majority of 10km squares during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84.

The darker the colour, the higher the relative total count for each 10km square.  The darkest blue represents over 6 birds seen in a day.

The plotted winter distribution was slightly less widespread than that of the breeding season possibly due to a difference in observer effort, as this species is considered to be sedentary. 

Graham Rees