BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Great Tit

GREAT TIT
Parus major

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: green

Long-term trend

UK, England: moderate increase

UK population size

2,074,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)

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. More food provision in gardens during winter is one possible explanation for the increase. Changes in different aspects of breeding performance are contradictory: CES productivity has fluctuated, brood size has decreased, and nest success at the egg stage has improved. Laying date has advanced by about a week in the UK, in line with climatic change. In a Dutch study population, however, the breeding period did not advance during 1973–95 and became increasingly mistimed with respect to the peak of insect abundance (Visser et al. 1998).

Population changes

Table of population changes for Great Tit

Source	Period (yrs)	Years	Plots (n)	Change (%)	Lower limit	Upper limit
CBC/BBS UK	38	1967-2005	681	100	75	127
	25	1980-2005	932	52	37	67
	10	1995-2005	1893	35	30	39
	5	2000-2005	1999	20	17	24
CBC/BBS England	38	1967-2005	562	96	76	132
	25	1980-2005	765	50	37	67
	10	1995-2005	1538	35	31	40
	5	2000-2005	1602	21	18	25
CES adults	21	1984-2005	89	46	22	80
	10	1995-2005	102	44	21	66
	5	2000-2005	96	42	23	65
CES juveniles	21	1984-2005	91	25	-2	61
	10	1995-2005	105	27	3	50
	5	2000-2005	100	41	21	65
BBS UK	10	1995-2005	1772	37	32	42
	5	2000-2005	1968	20	17	24
BBS England	10	1995-2005	1433	36	31	41
	5	2000-2005	1575	21	19	25
BBS Scotland	10	1995-2005	118	33	13	58
	5	2000-2005	126	16	1	32
BBS Wales	10	1995-2005	153	34	18	49
	5	2000-2005	182	18	9	27
BBS N.Ireland	10	1995-2005	58	101	52	124
	5	2000-2005	73	13	4	30

Productivity trends

Table of productivity changes for Great Tit

Variable	Period (yrs)	Years	Mean annual sample	Trend	Modelled in first year	Modelled in 2005	Change
Clutch size	37	1968-2005	131	Linear decline	8.36 eggs	7.34 eggs	-12.1%
Brood size	37	1968-2005	236	Curvilinear	7.15 chicks	6.01 chicks	-15.9%
Daily failure rate (eggs)	37	1968-2005	221	Linear decline	0.59% nests/day	0.35% nests/day	-40.7%
Daily failure rate (chicks)	37	1968-2005	168	Linear increase	0.53% nests/day	0.91% nests/day	71.7%
Laying date	37	1968-2005	155	Linear decline	May 4	Apr 26	-8 days
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES)	21	1984-2005	97	Smoothed trend	129 Index value	100 Index value	-23%
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES)	10	1995-2005	110	Smoothed trend	113 Index value	100 Index value	-11%
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES)	5	2000-2005	104	Smoothed trend	99 Index value	100 Index value	1%

Additional information


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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., Barimore, C., Coombes, R.H., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. & Thewlis, R.M. (2007) Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2007. BTO Research Report No. 487. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 3 January, 2008