Collection: What do Blue Tits eat?

This small acrobatic species is easily identified, as it is the only British bird with a blue crown. It is a common (but always welcome) garden bird coming to bird tables and hanging feeders of all descriptions. It is very fond of peanuts and fat balls and at one time was very well known for piercing foil milk bottle tops to get at the cream.

It has a high mortality, especially during harsher winters and really benefits from the food we provide and the nest boxes we put up in our gardens. We are particularly lucky at present to have a high population of Blue Tits which is thought to be due to unnatural survival through the beneficial effects of our winter bird feeding.

The favoured bird food for Blue Tits coming to garden feeding stations is undoubtedly peanut kernels closely followed by fat balls. They will also take other mixtures containing nut granules such as Golden Chorus as well as Mealworms and Sunflower Seed.

A word of warning: please ensure peanuts are fed from a peanut feeder and cannot be taken whole during the nesting season as adults may try to feed them to their small youngsters with potentially tragic results.

Blue Tits will readily take too closed in nest boxes with a 25mm diameter entrance hole.