Blue tits are among the most colouful members of the tit family, easily recognised by their striking blue and yellow plumage, black and white facial markings, and bright blue crown. They are frequent visitors to gardens, and you can encourage them by offering food and shelter.
In the wild, blue tits primarily feed on small insects such as scale insects, aphids, and caterpillars, particularly during the breeding season. A single hungry blue tit chick can consume up to 100 green caterpillars a day, and with an average clutch size of around eight eggs, parent blue tits must find a staggering number of caterpillars daily to feed their brood.
To support blue tits in spring, you can attract them to your garden by planting a range of butterfly-friendly plants that encourage caterpillar-producing butterflies. Butterflies are drawn to nectar-rich flowers with both flat and tubular blooms.
Buddleia (Buddleja davidii), also known as the butterfly bush, is one of the best-known plants for attracting butterflies. This fast-growing deciduous shrub produces fragrant sprays of purple flowers from summer to autumn.
English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is a compact, bushy shrub with aromatic foliage and spikes of fragrant purple flowers that bloom in summer.
Purple top (Verbena bonariensis) is a herbaceous perennial that produces clusters of small lilac flowers from summer through autumn, offering an excellent source of nectar for pollinating insects.
Bowles’s mauve wallflower (Erysimum linifolium) is a bushy evergreen perennial with dark green leaves and fragrant mauve flowers that bloom continuously from spring.
If you want to encourage butterflies to breed in your garden and produce those all-important caterpillars for birds, you’ll need to plant specific food plants that caterpillar larvae feed on:
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) is a fast-growing annual climber with round leaves and vibrant flowers in red, yellow, and orange that bloom in summer.
Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), a small thorny tree, produces delicate white flowers in spring followed by black fruits in autumn, making it a vital plant for some butterfly species.
Bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) is a low-growing perennial with clusters of small yellow flowers that emerge from red buds, providing an important food source for moth larvae.
Ivy (Hedera helix), a vigorous self-clinging climber with glossy green leaves that turn bronze in autumn, produces pale green flowers in late autumn, followed by black berries in winter.
Select a sunny, sheltered spot for planting, as butterflies thrive in warmth, and plant a diverse range of butterfly-friendly flowers to attract a variety of species throughout the seasons.
You can also support butterflies by providing a butterfly house, a wooden structure with small crevices that replicates the natural environments where butterflies typically rest and shelter.
During autumn and winter, when insects are scarce, blue tits often turn to seeds and berries to supplement their diet. Favourites include hawthorn, elder, ivy, juniper, and mistletoe, and planting berry-bearing shrubs and trees in your garden can provide a valuable food source for them during the colder months.
Blue tits are frequent visitors to bird feeders, and rarely feed from the ground. They prefer hanging feeders, where they can showcase their impressive acrobatic skills, often dangling upside down to access the food.
Peanuts are a good all-round choice, as they’re packed with protein and fat, providing a nutritious treat. Offer either peanut kibbles or whole nuts in specially designed peanut feeders with 6 mm mesh holes. This prevents the birds from taking whole nuts, which is particularly important during the breeding season to avoid baby birds choking.
Seeds are another popular option. You can use a general seed mix or go for specialist varieties like black sunflower seeds or sunflower hearts. Opt for no-grow bird seed, which has been dehulled to prevent spilled seeds from sprouting in your lawn.
In winter, fat balls and suet cakes are a staple for blue tits, providing them with much-needed energy during the cold months. Fat balls enriched with mealworms or seeds make an extra-special treat. Alternatively, you can make your own by melting suet, mixing it with seeds, nuts, and fruit, and pouring it into old yogurt pots to set. Once ready, hang them from your bird table or tree branches and enjoy watching flocks of blue tits arrive to feast.
For a food source that mimics their natural diet, mealworms are a perfect choice. Dried mealworms are readily available, but if you’re not squeamish, live mealworms are even better. If using dried mealworms, rehydrate them by soaking them in warm water overnight for an extra juicy treat. You can place them on a bird table or in a dedicated hanging mealworm feeder to attract blue tits.
Blue tits are among the most likely garden birds to use nest boxes. They wil also use holes in trees and other cracks and crevices.
Opt for a wooden nest box with a 25 mm entrance hole and position it between 1 and 5 metres off the ground. Install the box in autumn, giving the birds plenty of time to discover it before the breeding season begins. Blue tits may also use the box as a winter roost during colder months.
Place the nest box in a sheltered spot, away from direct sunlight and strong winds. Ensure there is no foliage obstructing the entrance hole, as birds need a clear flight path and an unobstructed view to avoid predators. If the nest box comes with a perch, it’s best to remove it, as predators like squirrels, magpies, and woodpeckers can cling to the perch to attack the chicks inside.
Blue tits can lay up to 10 eggs, but don’t be discouraged if not all of them hatch or if all the chicks don’t fledge. This is entirely natural and part of their reproductive strategy. To give them the best chance of success, avoid disturbing the nest, as this could lead to abandonment, and try to keep cats out of the garden to reduce the risk of predation.
Several other tit species often visit gardens, particularly in winter when mixed flocks can be seen moving from garden to garden in search of food.
Resembling blue tits but with darker plumage and a black crown, great tits have similar dietary preferences, happily eating the same foods you put out for blue tits. They will also use nest boxes, but require a slightly larger entrance hole of 28 mm.
Less colourful than blue tits, coal tits are easily recognised by the distinctive white patch on the back of their necks. They are known for caching food, particularly beech mast and conifer seeds, which they store to eat later when food is scarce. This behaviour makes them less frequent garden visitors, but during harsh winters, they will come for seeds, nuts, and fat, often taking food away to store for later. Coal tits may use nest boxes, preferring one with a 25 mm hole placed about 1 metre above the ground.
Similar in appearance to coal tits but with a fully black cap and no white neck patch, marsh tits are becoming more common garden visitors. Like coal tits, they cache food, meaning you’re more likely to see them in winter as they collect seeds and nuts to store for later. Marsh tits will occasionally nest in boxes with a 25 mm hole.
Long-tailed tits are increasingly frequent visitors to gardens and have made it into the top 10 in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch survey on multiple occasions. They belong to a different family from the other tits so have slightly different feeding and neesting habits. During winter, they often appear in charming “follow-the-leader” flocks, feeding on nuts, seeds, and fat. However, they don’t linger long before moving on to their next food source. Long-tailed tits are not cavity nesters and instead build intricate, domed nests in trees and bushes, so they won’t use nest boxes.
