Blue tit
Good Morning, Midnight (Reginald Hill Edition)The Blue tit is one of two blue tits in the witch’s kitchen, where the birds interrupt a meal by feeding on a cob loaf. Its brief appearance establishes it as part of a familiar domestic group: the birds are scolded, displaced from the table, and remain intent on returning to their feast. Hat Bowler recognizes the species and connects one of the birds with the name Scuttle.
Appearance and Setting
The Blue tit appears in a trio of tits gathered on a rough-hewn oak table. They are assaulting the dome of a cob loaf while a robin tries to open a marmalade pot. The kitchen is described as old-fashioned and without modern technology; its bread and the birds’ unabashed feeding give the room an everyday, inhabited character rather than making it a formal or controlled space.
The birds’ disturbance has a small but concrete consequence: the loaf has been pecked. The witch calls out to them, then the birds flutter from the table. The tits settle on a low beam, while the robin perches on the edge of the pot sink. Their retreat is not a panicked flight. They continue to cast greedy looks towards the interrupted meal, leaving the impression that they expect another opportunity to feed.
Recognition and Name
Hat Bowler shows that he can distinguish the birds. When the witch asks how he knew which one was Scuttle, he answers, “Two blue tits and a coal tit, not hard to guess which one’s Scuttle.” The exchange places the Blue tit within a small, recognizable set of household birds and makes Hat Bowler’s identification a point of contact between him and the witch. The scene does not specify which of the two blue tits has which name, so Scuttle’s identity should not be assigned more precisely than the dialogue allows.
The witch’s question also turns the birds’ names into evidence of their familiarity with her home. She addresses the tits by name as she calls them off the loaf, rather than treating them as anonymous intruders. Hat Bowler’s reply shows that he has noticed the distinction between the two blue tits and the coal tit; the observation briefly shifts the exchange from the interrupted breakfast to his knowledge of birds.
Place in the Scene
The Blue tit belongs to a quiet comic interruption: wildlife has taken possession of the bread before Hat Bowler can eat. After the birds leave the table, the witch uses a long, thin knife to trim away the pecked top and cut a thick slice from the remaining loaf. Hat Bowler has stepped back when she picks up the knife, but she uses it to prepare food, then invites him to have butter and marmalade while she makes tea. The birds’ visit therefore changes how the loaf is served without preventing the meal.
Hat Bowler apologizes to Scuttle and says he has waited a long time for this, treating the bird as an interlocutor even as he claims the bread for himself. The Blue tit is not given an independent action or a developed role beyond the flock’s feeding and retreat. Its significance lies in the scene’s precise domestic texture: birds peck at fresh bread, keep watch from the beam, and remain present in the conversation through their names and Hat Bowler’s recognition.
