The initiative to preserve willow tits in Derbyshire

Almost everybody is familiar with the ubiquitous blue tit and great tit, colourful woodland birds which have adapted to live cheek by jowl alongside us in our towns and gardens.

However, the tribe they belong to, the genus Parus, contains a number of other birds which are far less familiar, such as the marsh and willow tit.

Both these species are relatively dull in colour, having black caps with pale fawn coloured breasts, and, because they rarely frequent gardens, are seldom seen.

Unfortunately, both species are declining at an alarming rate of knots, with the willow tit earning the title of Britain’s second fastest declining species, with a 94% drop since 1970. (The turtle dove is the fastest declining species).

Great tit in flight  (Image: Paul Hobson)Willow tits have disappeared from much of southern England, and Derbyshire is one of only three counties where the population is still relatively robust, though it is rapidly declining here.

However, when the future looked really bleak, a number of projects were initiated to try to understand why the birds were declining so rapidly and to develop a number of strategies which could be utilised to help the species start to recover.

One of these projects was the inspirational Back from the Brink initiative, an ambitious nationwide partnership whose aim is to save the UK’s most threatened species from extinction.

Continental willow tits are much paler than their British cousins (Image: Paul Hobson) The willow tit was one of its chosen target species. The project ended in 2021 and left a fantastic legacy in its wake. In terms of the willow tit, this was a handbook for land managers which demonstrated the best practice to manage their land to aid this diminutive bird.

One of the key aspects of any conservation work is to understand exactly why a species is declining in the first place.

In terms of the willow tit, the number one reason is the familiar one of habitat loss and lack of connectivity.

Carr Vale, perfect habitat for willow tits, wet, riverine woodland (Image: Paul Hobson) Willow tits, unlike their cousins the blue and great tit, require a very specific type of woodland - a transitional woodland that will naturally disappear without constant management. A wet, young woodland.

This type of habitat, comprising of willow, alder, birch, elder and brambles, forms on wet soils, but, as it matures, the soil tends to dry out and the damp loving trees become replaced by oak, ash and sycamore.

And these are definitely not to the liking of willow tits. The birds also need dead trees. Not any dead trees, but soft rotting ones in which they can excavate their nest hole and chamber.

Connectivity, or more realistically, a lack of connectivity is an issue which threatens many bird species.

At first glance, this is not so obvious for birds because they can fly. However, many sedentary species, like willow tits, who do not move far and do not migrate, will not fly across large open spaces. They like to move through the environment, staying within woodland.

Cole tit are often confused with willow tits, but they are slightly smaller and have a much larger black bib (Image: Paul Hobson) What this means is that for populations to intermingle and exploit new habitats they need to move through corridors of scrub and trees.

This has become a key aspect of conservation work. It is not enough to create new habitat, we have to ensure that the existing populations can reach it.

Another key aspect of conservation work is to know exactly where willow tits exist. In the past, this relied on lots of people taking part in surveys and looking for the secretive bird in likely habitats.

However, whilst this works well, it requires a lot of bodies, mainly volunteers. Today, modern technology has helped to ease the load with passive acoustic monitoring.

Put simply, this is a recorder which is placed in a likely habitat and left running.

The benefits this brings are immense. Not only does it supply constant monitoring, but it helps to understand how the birds are using the woodland - are they resident or just visiting spasmodically?

There is another factor contributing to the birds’ decline – increased competition for nest holes from the more aggressive blue tits, and predation from great spotted woodpeckers.

Blue tit (Image: Paul Hobson) During winter, the British blue tit population is heavily subsidised by a huge number of garden bird feeders. Come the following spring, this highly elevated population disperses back into the countryside where it then ousts many willow tits from their nest holes.

Added to this is a massive increase in great spotted woodpeckers, again partly due to bird feeders, and when they move through prime willow tit habitat, they can easily drill out the bird’s nests and their young.

The answer is simple, but contentious. We should stop feeding garden birds, particularly in areas adjacent to willow tit populations. However, this will never be a popular idea. There is a huge garden bird food industry in the UK, and garden birds brings delight to many people.

In Derbyshire there are now an increasing number of initiatives and schemes which are monitoring and planning for active willow tit conservation.

Carsington Water (Image: Paul Hobson) These include the work the RSPB is doing with CEMEX in wet woodland restoration at Willington Quarry, and the inspirational work taking place in the Derwent Valley.

If you want to watch willow tits, the first thing to do is to learn their call, a chey-chey-chey. The web can give you lots of opportunities to do this.

Once you know what the birds look and sound like, the best two locations with breeding populations are Carsington Water and Carr Vale Nature Reserve (though, sadly, there is now only one breeding pair).

Each place offers something different in terms of bird watching and are brilliant for a day’s walk watching nature.