Academics from our Department of Life Sciences have been collaborating with colleagues from across the UK on a project monitoring the fortunes of nesting blue and great tits at a number of sites across the UK.

Dr Nancy Harrison (Senior Lecturer and Pathway Leader for Wildlife Biology) leads a team of academics working at the University Botanic Gardens in Cambridge to assess the breeding success of the local blue and great tit populations, measuring success in terms of clutch size, chick weights, and fledgling success. The energy expended by breeding adults has also been measured daily (to establish the birds' field metabolism).

Julia Mackenzie (Animal Behaviour Technician) is also working as part of the team trying to understand the impact that the gardens exotic trees and shrubs have on the birds. The team has discovered that both the blue and great tits struggle to raise chicks in the gardens' highly patchy environment. Chick weights were low and the adults were found to work harder for much lower breeding success than in natural woodland. But the real surprise was that the birds in the Botanic Garden were working harder than other birds breeding in other fragmented habitats - even those in scrappy, scrubby habitats that do not look nearly as good.

It is hoped that the project will provide insights into how our garden birds perceive our urban green spaces, it is hoped that this in turn will lead to advice on which trees and plants are best for birds - both in the Botanic Garden and at home.