Priority Species Spotlight: Willow Tit
Tiny, tenacious and in trouble – discover how we’re helping to bring Willow Tits back from the brink.
Conservation StatusRed (Birds of Conservation Concern)
Population StatusDeclining
Main ThreatsHabitat loss and fragmentation, competition, predation, climate change
Get to know Willow Tits
Unlike Blue Tits and Great Tits that regularly visit gardens across the UK, Willow Tits are a much rarer sight. These shy and secretive birds prefer to flit around in damp woodlands and scrubby undergrowth near rivers and streams.
Weighing in at just 10g – that’s the equivalent of two 20p coins – Willow Tits are tiny. But don’t let their size fool you – they’re tough and tenacious little birds. While most of their relatives will happily move into ready-made nest holes or cosy nestboxes, Willow Tits prefer the DIY approach.
Each spring, they peck out their own nest cavities in standing decaying wood, to create the perfect home for their chicks. It’s a slow, exhausting process and one they start from scratch every single year.
A case of mistaken identity
With their buff, grey, white and black feathers, Willow Tits look almost identical to Marsh Tits. In fact, they’re such convincing lookalikes that ornithologists didn’t realise they were two separate species until 1897! The best way to tell them apart is by listening to their call: Marsh Tits make a sneeze-like ‘pit-choo’ call, whereas the Willow Tit’s call is a nasal ‘chay-chay’.
Why are Willow Tits in trouble?
Between 1967 and 2023, Willow Tit numbers fell by a staggering 96%, earning them the unenviable title of the UK’s fastest declining resident bird. They’ve disappeared from much of southern England altogether and are now largely confined to pockets of central and northern England, Cornwall, Wales, and the south-west of Scotland.
Even more worryingly, their decline appears to be speeding up, and they’ve now been lost from many areas where they were still clinging on as recently as 2019–20, during the National Willow Tit Survey.
So what’s driving this dramatic decline?
Willow Tits thrive in damp, scrubby woodlands full of dead and decaying wood – the kind of places that people often ‘tidy up’. But when standing decaying wood is cleared away, these birds lose the soft, crumbly timber they rely on for making their nest holes.
Draining woodlands makes things even worse: as decaying wood dries out and hardens, it becomes more difficult for Willow Tits to peck out a nest.
Over time, many of the UK’s woodlands have been chopped down or split up into smaller, isolated patches. Because Willow Tits rarely travel far, and are reluctant to cross open ground, if their patch is destroyed or conditions are no longer suitable, they struggle to find new homes elsewhere.
Warmer, drier conditions brought on by climate change mean that the damp woods Willow Tits love are drying out, leaving fewer places for them to call home. Drier woodlands can mean less insect food for Willow Tits too.
Even if Willow Tits find a good nesting spot, their problems aren’t over. More dominant birds, like Great Tits and Blue Tits, can evict them from their carefully carved nest holes. Since Willow Tits only raise one brood a year, losing a nest site can reduce the chances of them successfully breeding that season. Other tit species will also compete with Willow Tits for food.
On top of that, Willow Tits are also at risk from predators like Great Spotted Woodpeckers, which will raid their nests and eat their eggs and chicks. As woodlands mature and the canopy closes over, conditions become ideal for these woodpeckers, as well as other tit species, allowing them to move into Willow Tit territories.
How is the RSPB helping Willow Tits?
The decline of Willow Tits probably doesn’t have a single cause – and that means there’s no easy fix. But across the UK, we’re working with partners and volunteers to give these elusive little birds a fighting chance.
Here are a few things we’ve been working on:
To find out where Willow Tits have been holding on – and where they’ve been lost – the RSPB organised the National Willow Tit Survey, together with our partners. Thanks to the efforts of dedicated volunteer birdwatchers, we now have a clearer picture of their remaining strongholds and how their range is changing. That knowledge is helping us to target conservation work where it’s needed most, although ongoing surveys and rapid intervention are vital to keep up with a rapidly changing situation.
Because Willow Tits are so shy and hard to spot, RSPB scientists have fitted some with tiny radio transmitters, helping us to follow their movements and understand more about how they use their habitat.
On our nature reserves, we’re giving Willow Tits the conditions they need to thrive. That means leaving deadwood standing, encouraging scrub to grow, connecting habitat fragments, increasing wetness and even adding special ‘nesting stumps’ made from decaying timber – perfect for Willow Tits to peck away at to create a cosy home for their chicks.
We’ve also tested different woodland management techniques to discover what works best, and are sharing what we learn each year through our Willow Tit newsletter, so that others can help these birds too.
The RSPB played a key role in Back from the Brink’s Willow Tit project, alongside Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Together, we restored and reconnected habitats in Yorkshire’s Dearne Valley, and even strapped deadwood to living trees to create more nesting spots.
Tracking work revealed that Willow Tits need a mix of vegetation and around 7 hectares of habitat to successfully raise their chicks. That insight shaped a new landscape plan and led to the creation of the first ever Willow Tit Conservation Handbook for land managers. The project even helped the Dearne Valley Wetlands gain SSSI status – a big win for wildlife!
Following the Back from the Brink project, we’ve been supporting the Where the Willow Tits Are project, launched initially by Macc Wild Network, to learn more about Willow Tits and how to protect them.
With help from local birdwatchers and around fifty volunteers from our Species Volunteer Network, the project mapped Willow Tit hotspots across central England. This vital information will help us to protect existing sites and work out where to create new ones.
But this project isn’t just about research – it’s about people too. Communities have come together to care for woodlands, improve nesting habitats, and raise awareness about these beleaguered birds.
Is there anything I can do to help Willow Tits?
Absolutely! Everyone can make a difference for Willow Tits:
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Volunteer
If you can, why not volunteer to help out with surveys, habitat restoration and monitoring? It’s a great way to get outdoors, meet new people and help nature firsthand. Please get in touch with the Species Volunteer Network at speciesvolunteernetwork@rspb.org.uk to find out more about potential opportunities near you.
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Record sightings
Seen a Willow Tit? Add your sighting to BirdTrack – every record adds valuable data that can help us target conservation work.
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Support conservation work
If you can’t volunteer, you can still support Willow Tits and other threatened wildlife by donating to the RSPB, whether that’s a one-off donation or a regular membership subscription.
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Manage woodlands with Willow Tits in mind
If you’re a farmer or land manager, especially in central and northern England, Cornwall, Wales, or south-west Scotland, you can play a key role in providing vital habitat. Check out the Willow Tit Conservation Handbook and Woodland Wildlife Toolkit for practical advice on managing and connecting woodland for these special birds.
To find out more about our annual Willow Tit newsletter, contact Gavin Chambers at gavin.chambers@rspb.org.uk
Taking species on a journey to recovery
Helping species to reach a healthy conservation status is a journey. Each journey is tailored to the species in question, but shares four stages:
1. DiagnosisIdentifying there's a problem, and researching to find out what's causing it
2. Testing solutionsDeveloping practical solutions and trialling them to make sure they work
3. RecoveryProviding these solutions across the whole range of the species
4. Long-term legacyReaching improved conservation status and securing a long-term legacy for the species’ recovery
Testing solutions
Our work to help Willow Tits is at the Testing Solutions stage of the recovery curve. During this stage, we identify which conservation actions will help a species to recover. We’ve made great progress, but there’s still lots of work to do to help these little birds bounce back.
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Thank you!
We’d like to say a big thank you to all of the amazing volunteers who offer their time to survey and monitor Willow Tits and restore their habitats.
We’re also very grateful for the support of our partners, including the Rare Breeding Birds Panel, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and the Welsh Ornithological Society, who supported the National Willow Tit Survey.
Our science work for Willow Tits is made possible thanks to the generous and ongoing support of RSPB members and supporters, as well as Action for Birds in England, a partnership between the RSPB and Natural England.
The Back from the Brink programme was developed by Natural England and Rethink Nature (a partnership of seven conservation charities including the RSPB). It was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, People’s Postcode Lottery, the Garfield Weston Foundation, Natural England, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Patsy Wood Trust, EU Life, Forestry Commission and Veolia.
The Where the Willow Tits Are project has been supported by the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme through the Peak District National Park Authority.