Marsh or Willow Tit?

[Birdman1976]

Hi there,

I've had this little character in my garden today, which is a first for me. Was wondering if anyone could provide a positive ID? My hunch is that its a Willow Tit but i've never been very good at seperating these species.

Apologies for the quality of the pictures but any help would be much appreciated.

[ChrisJB]

I think marsh and will be waiting with ghoulish glee to be blasted down by a raging inferno of flames. I usually look for the pale wing panel as a rough guide for willow and can't make it out here.

Chris

[Deb London]

Originally Posted by ChrisJB

I think marsh and will be waiting with ghoulish glee to be blasted down by a raging inferno of flames. I usually look for the pale wing panel as a rough guide for willow and can't make it out here.

Chris

Ha, ha, yes indeed!

In this case I think I can make out the two-tone face colouration (whiter to the front, beige to the rear) which I think points to Marsh Tit. We shall see.

[Ferret]

There is a very good article on the British Birds Journal web site at Key articles | British Birds Table 2 gives a list of key features and there reliability in identifying these two difficult species, saying rthat I do not feel confident enough to give a definite ID from these pictures. If forced I would say Willow but I could easily be persuaded to change me mind, I think.

Ferret

[Dogghound]

Marsh tit

Two tone cheek, lack of wing panel, overall shape of the bird/cap.

Not sure if its just me but if you zoom in you can make out a hint of a pale spot on the upper mandible too. The top photo seems to show the best features.

[glsammy]

Marsh Tit.
I find the most reliable id is the lighter marks on the birds bill. On a Willow it's pure black. This one clearly has lighter area near the base of the bill, plus lighter edges.

[RoyW]

I'd definitely say that it was a Marsh in the 1st and 3rd photos (but if one particular regular poster says otherwise I won't argue!).

[Birdman1976]

Thanks everyone for all your very helpful responses.

Marsh tit it is . Well chuffed to have had it in the garden all day today, hopefully it'll still be around tomorrow.

Also takes my species count for the garden to 44. Creeping ever closer to 50, which would be fantastic!

[k4t3]

I was having the same dilemma a couple of days ago....saw something that screamed "different" on the bird feeder and went to look it up, narrowing it down to one of these two. However, the little beggar was very fast and I still haven't been able to get a good look at it yet....but after all these posts am more inclined to say mine was a willow tit (slight paler patch on wings??)
It seemed to be following a group of mixed LTTs and BTs, 1st thought it was coal tit, but was alerted by totally black head, no white patch at the nape and looked more brownish than the CT

This takes my garden species total to around 30....I got a way 2 go yet!!

[RKB]

It's a Marsh. Pic 1 gives the best view, with the cheek patch being nice and white on the side of the face, but then cold grey/brown behind the ear, on the side of the neck/nape. Willow can sometimes have this 'two-toned' appearance on the cheek, but the colour is a warm buffy-cream, not a cold greyish-brown like this bird.

Location can be a big clue too, as Marsh is absent from some areas where Willow is present, and vice versa. Marsh is much more common/likely in southern England and Wales. Willow is really only common now in bits of Northern England, and are virtually extinct in southern England.