From expert caterpillar hunter to garden feeder connoisseur, the Great Tit's menu changes with impressive adaptability throughout the year.
These charismatic birds, instantly recognisable by their black cap and yellow belly with a distinctive black stripe down the middle, display remarkable intelligence in their feeding strategies across British gardens and woodlands.
Garden Feeder Favourites
Great Tits are enthusiastic visitors to UK gardens, where they show clear preferences for high-energy foods. They particularly relish black sunflower seeds, sunflower hearts, and quality peanuts (always offered in mesh feeders, never loose).
At garden feeding stations, these birds typically grab a single seed, fly to a nearby perch, and skilfully wedge it into a crevice or hold it with their feet while hammering it open with their strong bill.
Unlike some garden birds that feed directly on feeders, Great Tits often use this "take-away" approach.
This distinctive behaviour allows them to process food more thoroughly while reducing vulnerability to predators. In winter months, they also eagerly accept suet products, fat balls, and high-quality seed mixes containing flaked maize, sunflower seeds, and millet.
Great Tit eating an insect
Seasonal Diet Changes
The Great Tit's diet undergoes dramatic seasonal shifts that reflect both food availability and changing nutritional needs:
Spring and Summer Diet
During the breeding season, Great Tits transform into insect-hunting specialists. Caterpillars become their primary target, making up to 90% of their diet when feeding nestlings.
They meticulously search the undersides of leaves, hanging acrobatically to inspect every potential hiding place.
Oak trees prove particularly valuable hunting grounds, as a single oak can host thousands of caterpillars of various species.
Parents can be observed making repeated journeys to the nest, often carrying multiple caterpillars simultaneously in their bills. A single pair may deliver over 1,000 caterpillars to their young during the nesting period.
Beyond caterpillars, they consume spiders, beetles, flies, and small bugs found by systematically exploring tree bark and vegetation.
Great tit eating seeds from a sunflower
Autumn Transition
As summer insect populations decline, Great Tits gradually shift to a more plant-based diet.
Autumn sees them eating a mixed menu of remaining insects, spiders, seeds, nuts, and berries. They become particularly fond of beech mast and acorns, which they skilfully crack open using their sturdy bills.
During this period, they begin caching food – storing seeds and nuts in crevices, underneath bark, or in moss to create reserves for leaner times.
Great tits are mostly active feeding during the earlier parts of the day, although they'll visit feeders later on as well
Winter Feeding
Winter presents the greatest feeding challenge, which Great Tits meet with remarkable adaptability.
Seeds and nuts form the backbone of their winter diet, with garden feeders becoming increasingly important food sources. They continue to search for dormant insects and spiders hidden in bark crevices and dead leaves, demonstrating their resourcefulness even in the coldest months.
In particularly harsh winters, Great Tits occasionally exhibit surprising behaviour – some individuals have been documented preying on smaller birds when other food sources are scarce. This rare behaviour highlights their adaptability and determination to survive challenging conditions.
Great Tit eating red berries during the winter
Regional Variations Across the UK
Great Tit diets show subtle variations across different UK habitats:
- In deciduous woodlands, oak processionally moth and winter moth caterpillars form a critical part of their breeding season diet.
- Coastal populations incorporate more marine invertebrates, including small crustaceans found in shoreline debris.
- Urban Great Tits tend to rely more heavily on garden feeders year-round, with studies showing they've become increasingly dependent on human-provided foods over recent decades.
- Scottish populations make greater use of conifer seeds compared to their southern counterparts.
Feeding Young Great Tits
The dietary needs of nestling Great Tits are highly specific and time-sensitive. Parents feed their young almost exclusively on caterpillars and soft-bodied insects, which provide the protein essential for rapid growth.
Research has shown that Great Tit breeding success correlates directly with caterpillar abundance, highlighting why gardens with native trees and plants support healthier bird populations.
Timing is crucial – Great Tits synchronise their breeding to coincide with peak caterpillar emergence. Climate change has begun disrupting this carefully evolved timing, with caterpillars emerging earlier while birds haven't fully adjusted their breeding schedule, creating what ecologists call a "phenological mismatch."
Great tit feeding the chicks caterpillars
Historical Feeding Innovation
Great Tits demonstrate remarkable problem-solving abilities when it comes to finding food.
The most famous example comes from the 1920s when Great Tits across Britain learned to pierce the foil tops of home-delivered milk bottles to drink the cream beneath.
This behaviour spread across the country as birds learned from each other, demonstrating their cognitive flexibility and social learning capacity.
Great tit eating seeds from a bird feeder
Supporting Great Tits in Your Garden
To attract and support Great Tits in British gardens:
- Provide high-quality feeders with sunflower hearts, peanuts (in mesh feeders), and suet products
- Plant native trees and shrubs that host caterpillars, especially oak, birch, and hawthorn
- Leave some areas of your garden less tidy, with leaf litter and loose bark where insects can thrive
- Install nest boxes with 28mm entrance holes to encourage breeding
- Maintain feeding year-round, as Great Tits now rely on garden food sources even in summer
- Ensure feeders are cleaned regularly to prevent disease spread
Gardens that support healthy insect populations, particularly caterpillars, provide Great Tits with their most nutritious natural food.
A combination of thoughtful planting and supplementary feeding creates the ideal environment for these adaptable, intelligent birds throughout the British seasons.
A small flock of great tits, feeding at a bird feeder