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BTO Blueline
GREAT TIT
Parus major
 Great Tit © Tommy Holden
 
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: green
Long-term trend
UK, England: moderate increase
Distribution maps
Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.
Status summary
Great Tits have increased steadily since the 1960s, with the exception of two brief periods of stability or shallow decline during the mid 1970s and late 1980s. Recent CBC/BBS and BBS results suggest that this increase is continuing, in all UK countries. A positive effect of more food provision by humans during winter is one possible explanation for the increase. Changes in different aspects of breeding performance are contradictory, but the decrease in CES productivity suggests that density-dependent competition may now be affecting juvenile:adult ratios in the post-fledging period.
 
CBC/BBS UK graph
 
Table of population changes for Great Tit
Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC/BBS UK 35 1967-2002 555 71 48 94    
  25 1977-2002 705 40 25 57    
  10 1992-2002 1424 23 18 28    
  5 1997-2002 1884 10 7 13    
CBC/BBS England 35 1967-2002 463 66 44 92    
  25 1977-2002 585 37 25 51    
  10 1992-2002 1173 22 17 26    
  5 1997-2002 1531 10 8 14    
CES adults 18 1984-2002 87 11 . .    
  10 1992-2002 102 18 . .    
  5 1997-2002 102 5 . .    
CES juveniles 18 1984-2002 89 -6 . .    
  10 1992-2002 105 -9 . .    
  5 1997-2002 106 -4 . .    
BBS UK 9 1994-2003 1568 26 20 31    
BBS England 9 1994-2003 1274 18 13 24    
BBS Scotland 9 1994-2003 106 52 23 88    
BBS Wales 9 1994-2003 132 30 11 52    
BBS N.Ireland 9 1994-2003 47 145 65 265    
BBS acknowledgement
 
CBC/BBS England graph
CES adult abundance graph
CES juvenile abundance graph
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
BBS Wales graph
BBS N Ireland graph
 
Table of productivity information for Great Tit
Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Predicted
in first year		 Predicted
in last year		 Change Comment
Clutch size 34 1968-2002 92 Linear decline 8.23 eggs 7.61 eggs -0.62 eggs  
Brood size 34 1968-2002 158 Linear decline 7.44 chicks 6.56 chicks -0.88 chicks  
Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 151 Linear decline 0.0065 nests/day 0.003 nests/day -0.0035 nests/day  
Daily failure rate (chicks) 34 1968-2002 124 None        
Laying date 34 1968-2002 113 Curvilinear day 121 day 113 -8 days  
Percentage juveniles (CES) 18 1984-2002 95 Smoothed trend 126 productivity index 102 productivity index -21%  
Percentage juveniles (CES) 10 1992-2002 111 Smoothed trend 123 productivity index 102 productivity index -19%  
Percentage juveniles (CES) 5 1997-2002 111 Smoothed trend 106 productivity index 102 productivity index -5%  
 
Clutch size graph
Brood size graph
Egg nest failure graph
Chick nest failure graph
Laying date graph
CES productivity graph
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This report should be cited as:
Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Beaven, L.P., Coombes, R.H.,
Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. and Thewlis, R.M. (2005)
Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2004.
BTO Research Report No. 385. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 18 January, 2006