Warble UK
Marsh Tit
Photo: Stephan Sprinz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Birds / Tits

Marsh Tit

Poecile palustris
Tricky All year Woodland
Test yourself

Recording: Ruud van Beusekom / xeno-canto

Sounds like

An explosive 'pitchoo!' call, and a song of repeated 'schip-schip-schip' notes.

Remember it

'Pitchoo!' like a sneeze. Despite the name, a bird of dry woodland.

When and where

Listening for the marsh tit

Heard
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Jan to Jun
Time of day
Day
Where
Woodland
In Britain
All year
Family
Tits

Side by side

Often confused with

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

Marsh Tit

Marsh Tit

Poecile palustris
JFMAMJJASOND

'Pitchoo!' like a sneeze. Despite the name, a bird of dry woodland.

Willow Tit

Willow Tit

Poecile montanus
JFMAMJJASOND

Buzzy and nasal, where the marsh tit sneezes. Now one of Britain's fastest-declining birds.

Coal Tit

Coal Tit

Periparus ater
JFMAMJJASOND

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

Could you pick out a marsh tit?

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

Play the quiz

Same habitat

Also in woodland

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.