Joking apart, the great tit is a born survivor

Wenlock Edge Since the 1960s the great tit population has doubled. These dapper but tough birds are becoming a global power

Great tits will take over the world. You see my problem already - it's the name. Unless you can disassociate from the Carry On innuendo of "tit", this bird is always going to be a joke. It supposedly gets its name from titmouse: in Old English, tit means small and "mouse" is a corruption of mAse, a bird name of Germanic origins.

There is a theatrical prettiness about great tits: the shiny black head with flashing white cheeks, flamboyantly dapper, green-backed, yellow-breasted, with black tie and cleavage stripe. Their twin-syllabic song sounds like a drunk pushing a rusty wheelbarrow. But the music hall stage persona ends there.