Bearded Tit National Survey in Britain 2002

The Bearded Tit is a scarce breeding species in Britain, confined to extensive areas of reed-bed. A national survey of bearded tits was conducted in 2002 to resurvey the population following the 1992 survey. RBBP and County bird reports were used to identify any sites occupied since 1992. Preliminary visits were made to identify areas of activity followed by full surveys concentrating on these areas, with up 8 visits made to each site to monitor breeding success. Only a small proportion of the Tay estuary reedbeds were surveyed according to this method, data for the rest of this area is not available in this dataset and thus these data should not be used to make an estimate of the full UK breeding population.