Do Great Tits have a 2nd Brood if first one fails?

[jones89]

Great Tit in one nest box has failed. For some reason the parents didn't feed the chicks {5} very well, bringing in large food which the female usually ate! All of the chicks died within a few days. Now I have a Great Tit in another box {which the first Great Tit had also been building, obviously keeping her options open!}. Would this be the same bird as in the first box with a failed brood?. Do Great Tits have a second brood after one failing.

[RKB]

Yes, they frequently do have replacement clutches. But not always. Increasingly in the south, they are also sometimes having second broods after a succuessful first brood (which is common on the Continent).

Sounds like yours were short of chick food (caterpillars) in their territory. This is common in gardens - the birds are lulled into thinking it's a food-rich area over the winter due to bird tables, but in reality there is little natural food on which to rear the chicks (which need live insect food).