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Natural England Funded Development of a National Willow Tit Recovery Strategy

Willow tit perched on a branch in Lancashire
Conservation · Management

Natural England has funded a 2026–2029 project to build a national recovery strategy for willow tit (Poecile montanus) in England. The project was listed on 8 July 2026 among the new Species Recovery Programme awards.

The official funding announcement names Natural England as the lead organisation. The project covers Cheshire to Lancashire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, the East Midlands, Northumbria and the West Midlands. The aim is to bring evidence from several remaining populations into one recovery strategy rather than treating each area in isolation.

A later update described autumn monitoring in North East England

A BTO listing published in August 2026 described one regional contribution to the programme in more detail. Durham Wildlife Trust was recruiting a research officer to establish autumn population monitoring in County Durham and Tyne and Wear, including mist-netting and ringing of adult and juvenile willow tits at selected sites in Wearside and Durham.

The listing described the role as part of a wider Natural England and RSPB-led species-recovery programme. These North East records are intended to contribute to the national strategy announced by Natural England in July.

A coordinated programme across remaining strongholds

Willow tit has undergone a severe long-term decline in Britain and is now concentrated in a much smaller set of areas than formerly. Previous conservation work has often been organised regionally. The new project instead links work across several English regions under one national strategy.

Natural England’s 8 July funding announcement confirms that the project will build a national recovery strategy across several English regions during 2026–2029. The later BTO listing shows how one regional monitoring component is being developed within that wider programme.

Sources and image credit

  1. Natural England. (2026). Species Recovery Programme: projects awarded funding for 2026 to 2029.Official funding announcement listing ‘Willow tit – building a national recovery strategy’, led by Natural England across several English regions.
  2. British Trust for Ornithology. Willow Tit Research Officer — opportunities for ringers.Public listing for Durham Wildlife Trust’s North East contribution to the Natural England and RSPB-led programme, including the autumn ringing role.

Image: f.c.franklin / Flickr / Wikimedia Commons — willow tit photographed 12 February 2014; representative species image · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

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