willow tit project
Drawing from our Willow Tit nest box trial conducted in Poland between 2021 and 2023, where a unique nest box scheme was designed and implemented to provide suitable nest sites for the Willow Tit, and carried out with the aim to develop the most effective nest box design to suit these specialist birds, we are currently establishing a network of sites around Wales where the successful specialist nest box design is being rolled out for this fastest declining resident bird species in the UK.
Willow Tits excavate a nest chamber in soft deadwood, usually in the stump of a Willow, Birch, Alder or Elder. These birds generally breed in wet young woodland and scrub, where there is an abundance of suitable habitat. Unfortunately, in many areas, with the degradation of the natural environment, and the maturation of young woods and scrub, natural nesting opportunities are diminishing fast. This is by no means the only challenge these wonderful and charismatic birds are facing (eg. eviction by other tit species, predation by a growing population of Great Spotted Woodpeckers), and the specially designed nest box aims at addressing as many as possible.
The aim of the programme is to stabilise and further increase existing populations in the county of Carmarthenshire, to start with. According to 'Great Britian willow tit survey 2019-2021: A Welsh perspective', the county holds the highest proportion of the Welsh population - just over 30%. Meanwhile, we have been approached by authorities from the neighbouring counties, and efforts are ongoing to commence Willow Tit conservation work across other areas as soon as possible.
We provide advice based on existing research as well as our own studies and experience living amongst a healthy population of Willow Tits in Poland. We also undertake a lot of work on the ground, physically delivering solutions, determined to halt the dramatic decline of this species in the UK.
Alongside nest box installation across existing Willow Tit territories, our work involves confirming the birds' presence in their historical locations, and surveying suitable habitat throughout the county for the presence of pairs that have so far remained unrecorded. Mapping out the remaining populations is the first step on the challenging but exciting journey of protecting and conserving these unique birds balancing on the edge of local extinction.
