Long-tailed Tit Photo: © Paul Hillion (visit site)

The Long-tailed Tit has an extremely widespread breeding range extending from Portugal to Central China. It breeds throughout Europe, only being absent from Iceland, northern Fennoscandia, the Balearics, Sardinia and Crete. It is a common species in the British Isles but its preference for structurally diverse habitats containing numerous margins between wooded and open areas mean that it is an uncommon localised resident in the Bailiwick.

Numbers of this species have fluctuated since the the 1800s, when the keeping of records began. Smith never saw them on the islands but MacCulloch wrote to him describing them as 'far from uncommon. Probably the destruction of the orchards may have rendered it less common.' Dobson reports only a handful of records since and, from the evidence available, the Long-tailed Tit has been an uncommon, localised resident in the Bailiwick since the widespread uprooting of the cider orchards towards the end of the nineteenth century. A similar scattering of records occured in Sark and Alderney, although Rountree records it only as a passage migrant and winter visitor in Sark.

The Long-tailed Tit is now an uncommon resident in Guernsey and Alderney although it is not known whether it has now become established as a breeding species in Sark although there are records of it occurring there in July (Rountree). In Guernsey, it was recorded as breeding in 10 out of 26 squares in the 1989-91 Guernsey Breeding Bird Survey and it tended to be concentrated in the southern, higher, parts of the island. Between 1993-1998 most breeding records came from areas with large trees, including Saumarez Park, Talbot, Fauxquet and the Quanteraine valleys, Sous l'Eglise, Pleinmont, the south coast valleys and the Reservoir.

In Guernsey, the number of breeding pairs is difficult to estimate. Numbers fluctuate from year to year and declines in numbers are often associated with severe winters. Between 1993-1998, records in May and June came from the Talbot Valley, Fauxquet Valley, Saumarez Park, Silbe Nature Reserve and Petit Bôt and it is likely that these would be of breeding birds. Outside this period, records were received from a wide variety of localities, including coastal heath such as at Les Sommeileuses and Le Prevoté, wooded areas such as Sous L'Eglise, the Ron Short walk, wetland areas such as the Rue des Bergers Nature Reserve, and coastal areas such as Pleinmont and Le Bouvée. This scattering of records may well include some migrants as Rountree suggests but it is likely that the breeding population may be higher than currently recorded and an estimate of 10-100 pairs would be reasonable.

Birds are on territory by the end of March and large family parties can be seen from the end of June onwards. Flocks of 10-20 birds are common and exceptionally 30-40 birds. These large flocks remain together until approximately November when smaller parties (generally <20 birds) are seen. These remain together until the end of March, when records tend to be of single or pairs of birds.