Best time to see: all year

Key facts

Another black-capped woodland tit, closely related to the marsh tit

Habitat: damp woodland, including conifers

Resident, distributed thinly across the north and west of Essex, and in worrying long-term decline

Recognition

Typical tit shape with round head, dull black head and large bib; 11–12 cm

Very active, foraging through the tree canopy often in the company of other tit species

Feeds on insects, seeds and wild fruit

Lifecycle

Nest is built in a cavity the bird excavates in a tree, thinly lined with with wood chips and hair

1, sometimes 2, broods April to May; 6–8 white eggs, spotted reddish