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BTO Blueline
LONG-TAILED TIT
Aegithalos caudatus
Long-tailed Tit © Tommy Holden
 
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: green
Long-term trend
England: moderate increase
Distribution maps
Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.
Status summary
This species undergoes large-scale fluctuations in numbers, suffering heavy mortality when winters are severe, but able to recover quickly by virtue of its high breeding potential. Substantial increase in the CBC/BBS trend took place prior to 1975, perhaps as a recovery from the cold winters of the early 1960s. Subsequent cold winters in 1978/79 and into the mid 1980s depressed breeding numbers. Both CBC/BBS and CES index trends show increases in Long-tailed Tit abundance since the late 1980s, perhaps now ceased. Improvements in nesting success at the egg stage (19 days, comprising 13 days incubation and 6 days laying) have accompanied the recent increase, but clutch and brood sizes have been smaller. The trend towards earlier laying may be explained by recent climatic changes (Crick & Sparks 1999).
 
CBC/BBS England graph
 
Table of population changes for Long-tailed Tit
Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC/BBS England 35 1967-2002 238 79 25 152    
  25 1977-2002 296 38 11 65    
  10 1992-2002 567 8 0 19    
  5 1997-2002 709 5 -3 11    
CES adults 18 1984-2002 75 44 . .    
  10 1992-2002 91 15 . .    
  5 1997-2002 91 6 . .    
CES juveniles 18 1984-2002 67 11 . .    
  10 1992-2002 85 -3 . .    
  5 1997-2002 88 -4 . .    
BBS UK 9 1994-2003 646 11 -1 23    
BBS England 9 1994-2003 567 -3 -13 8    
BBS Wales 9 1994-2003 48 -17 -48 35    
BBS acknowledgement
 
CES adult abundance graph
CES juvenile abundance graph
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Wales graph
 
Table of productivity information for Long-tailed Tit
Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Predicted
in first year		 Predicted
in last year		 Change Comment
Clutch size 34 1968-2002 32 Linear decline 7.65 eggs 6.55 eggs -1.1 eggs  
Brood size 34 1968-2002 26 Curvilinear 6.76 chicks 6.26 chicks -0.5 chicks Small sample
Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 51 Curvilinear 0.0321 nests/day 0.0069 nests/day -0.0252 nests/day  
Daily failure rate (chicks) 34 1968-2002 35 Linear increase 0.0078 nests/day 0.0163 nests/day 0.0085 nests/day  
Laying date 34 1968-2002 42 Curvilinear day 109 day 94 -15 days  
Percentage juveniles (CES) 18 1984-2002 81 Smoothed trend 117 productivity index 102 productivity index -15%  
Percentage juveniles (CES) 10 1992-2002 98 Smoothed trend 121 productivity index 102 productivity index -17%  
Percentage juveniles (CES) 5 1997-2002 99 Smoothed trend 112 productivity index 102 productivity index -11%  
 
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