Birdwatch: Blue tits are feisty and fascinating but often taken for granted

They will soon be looking for nest sites to begin the huge effort of raising their brood of between eight and 10 chicksIf there were an award for the most underrated British garden bird, the blue tit may well come out on top. Feisty and fascinating, this colourful little creature is so common and familiar that we often take it for granted.This could be because of the blue tit's ubiquity. In both the main garden bird surveys in the UK - the RSPB's annual Big Garden Birdwatch and the long-running BTO Garden BirdWatch - the species is always in the top five. With roughly 3 million breeding pairs, blue tits are as common in urban and suburban gardens as they are in rural ones. Continue reading...