Warble UK
Great Tit
Photo: Frank Vassen from Brussels, Belgium / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Birds / Tits

Great Tit

Parus major
Common All year GardensWoodlandTowns
Test yourself

Recording: Stein Ø. Nilsen / xeno-canto

Sounds like

A loud, ringing, two-note 'tea-cher, tea-cher, tea-cher', plus a huge range of other calls.

Remember it

'Teacher, teacher.' And if you hear a call you can't place, guess great tit.

When and where

Listening for the great tit

Heard
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Jan to Jun
Time of day
Dawn and Day
Where
Gardens, Woodland, Towns
In Britain
All year
Family
Tits

Side by side

Often confused with

Play them one after the other and listen for the difference.

Great Tit

Great Tit

Parus major
JFMAMJJASOND

'Teacher, teacher.' And if you hear a call you can't place, guess great tit.

Coal Tit

Coal Tit

Periparus ater
JFMAMJJASOND

A great tit on fast-forward, usually from a conifer.

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Phylloscopus collybita
JFMAMJJASOND

It sings its own name, and is one of the first migrants heard in spring, from mid-March.

Nuthatch

Nuthatch

Sitta europaea
JFMAMJJASOND

Someone whistling for their dog.

Could you pick out a great tit?

Hear a song, choose from four birds, and build your streak.

Play the quiz

Same habitat

Also in gardens

See all
Blackbird

Blackbird

Turdus merula
JFMAMJJASOND

Slow, rich, fluting phrases that wander about and often trail off into a quiet chuckle.

Blue Tit

Blue Tit

Cyanistes caeruleus
JFMAMJJASOND

Two or three thin, high notes followed by a fast, shimmering trill: 'tsee-tsee-tsuhuhuhu'.

Chaffinch

Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs
JFMAMJJASOND

A cheerful, accelerating run of notes that tumbles down and ends in a flourish, repeated over and over.

Dunnock

Dunnock

Prunella modularis
JFMAMJJASOND

A hurried, flat, squeaky warble that stays on one level and stops abruptly, like a squeaky wheel turning.