Are any creatures busier than blue tits with a nest full of hungry young? Having up to 14 nestlings means it's dawn-till-dusk work for the adults in May, trying to find enough caterpillars and other tasty invertebrates to satisfy the brood. Whenever I feel challenged by childcare, I think of blue tit parents and how they are rushing around at this time of year.
They seem to be everywhere: in gardens, parks and woodland edges, ceaselessly flitting along twigs, hanging upside down to inspect every leaf for prey. Unlike their larger great tit cousins, blue tits rarely deign to forage on the ground, but they may make up to 1,500 sorties a day in search of food.
Blue tit breeding is all about timing. Though a female blue tit may begin laying…
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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, May 2024