A book that celebrates our complex relationship with the charismatic blue tit has been published today.

Dr Martyn Stenning has studied blue tit populations across the world and through over 30 years of research, he has uncovered a range of discoveries about this popular songbird.

This book brings together his findings into one accessible volume.

Dr Stenning said: “The book catalogues the evolution of blue tits over the last 8 million years and describes how they have adapted to the modern world. It sheds new light on their taxonomy, ecology, behaviour, breeding strategies and diet and it details the plethora of life challenges that they encounter.”

This is the first and only comprehensive book devoted to these beguiling birds and is full of interesting insights into their lives. For example, female blue tits are usually migratory whereas adult males tend to be sedentary, sparrow hawks may time their breeding to coincide with blue tit fledging and one family of blue tits can consume up to 18,000 caterpillars in 3 weeks!

Dr Stenning’s book is a definitive record of the biology and ecology of blue tits but he also provides a selection of personal anecdotes and an overview of blue tit appearances in folklore and poetry.

The Blue Tit by Martyn Stenning is the latest in series of single bird species monographs published by T & A D Poyser which is an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and is available to buy in stores, online and as an eBook.