GREAT TIT
The great tit is a favourite of the bird feeder and bird table and can be seen in most European gardens. It has a bright yellow chest with a black vertical band down the centre. The black band is wider and clearer on the males, with females having a thinner, broken band. They have wonderful, glossy black heads with prominent white cheek patches, and a thin white wing bar on bluish wings. This is the largest tit and one of the friendliest, if you have food on offer.
Although common in gardens, the great tit is a woodland bird and can also be found on bushy hillsides. They nest in holes in trees or walls and of course your bird box. Surprisingly (well to me anyway), the female can lay between 5 and 14 eggs, which will hatch within 2 weeks of laying. That is a lot of mouths to feed! Insects and seeds are the favourite foods of the great tit, unless you have suet balls for them to munch on.
