Willow Tit

Willow Tit is an extremely difficult bird to separate from Marsh Tit reliably unless the bird is calling. In this case, we heard several birds calling in the forest. The pale panel along the secondaries can also be seen in this photograph and that is indicative of Willow Tit. Recent research has demonstrated that without hearing the bird call, the most reliable although not absolute indicator is the absence of a white dot on the lower mandible. It almost certainly will require a good close photograph to determine the absence or otherwise of the white dot.