Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus
Breeding distribution change
Abundant resident of open broadleaved or mixed woodlands, often in gardens
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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2013
Atlas species lists
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More Blue Tit maps
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More maps for this atlas
Map explanation
This map shows where changes occurred in the breeding season distribution of the species in Wiltshire between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, as revealed by the fieldwork for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007) and the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.
Gains and improvements
Status
Nos tetrads
Absent to present
7
1%
Present to breeding
86
9%
Absent to breeding
16
2%
No change
Status
Nos tetrads
Present in both
36
4%
Breeding in both
606
66%
Losses and declines
Status
Nos tetrads
Present to absent
3
<1%
Breeding to present
148
16%
Breeding to absent
6
1%
Blue Tits breed throughout Europe north to southern Fenno-Scandia and north-central Russia, and in the Caucasus, Turkey, Iran and the eastern side of the Caspian Sea. The African Blue Tit, Cyanistes teneriffae, found in North Africa and the Canary Islands, was previously considered a sub-species of Cyanistes caeruleus but is now recognised as a species in its own right. Blue Tits found in the UK and Ireland are mostly of the sub-species C.c.obscurus, though there have been occasional irruptions from mainland Europe of the nomnate race C.c.caeruleus.
Blue Tits are found almost everywhere in Great Britain and are particularly common south of a line from the Mersey to the Tees. They are absent only from the highest ground in Scotland, from the Northern Islands, the Outer Hebrides and a few of the islands of the Inner Hebrides.
In Wiltshire Blue Tits are common in all areas except in some parts of Salisbury Plain and a few other open downlands lacking trees for nesting and feeding. They are particularly numerous in the north and southwest of the county. Birds of Wiltshire recorded them in 885 terads, with confirmed or probable breeding in 760 of them; WTA2 recorded them in 899 tetrads with breeding in 706.
References
The following references are used throughout these species accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
“1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976: The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986: The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
“Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007 : Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
“Bird Atlas 2007-2011” – Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
“WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.