SS15 wildlife watching: The onomatopoeic bird is back .... part 1

Saturday 12 March 2022

The onomatopoeic bird is back .... part 1

For many people, the arrival of spring is confirmed by the sighting of the first Swallow or the first calling Cuckoo.

For me, it is the sight and sound of the onomatopoeic Chiffchaff, the bird that sings its own name.

The Chiffchaff is a small Phylloscopus leaf warbler, just 10 to 12 centimetres in length and 6 to 7 grams in weight, which breeds across Europe and Asia east to eastern Siberia and north to about 70°N. It is a migratory bird which winters in southern and western Europe, southern Asia and north Africa and it is one of the first passerines to return to its breeding areas in the spring and among the last to leave in late autumn.

In the UK, increasing numbers of Chiffchaffs can be seen during the winter months due to our warming climate (in fact my first record for this year was on 17th January 2022 in the cemetery of St. Nicholas Church) but the vast majority arrive in early or mid-March.

During my visit to Noak Bridge Nature Reserve this morning, I recorded my first spring migrants with 2 singing males at the eastern end of the reserve.