Warblers

You know when spring is really here when the warblers arrive.  Here are three of the commonest, all heard in the Mundy Playing Field, at Filnore Woods and probably in your garden too.

The first to arrive is the chiffchaff.  They are hard to see but the song is just like the name - 'chiff chaff chiff chaff chiff chiff chaff' with the occasional chuff thrown in.

The next commonest is the blackcap, the nightingale of the north.  It's like a blackbird in a hurry that doesn't know how to stop.

This video by Maurice Baker shows a blackcap singing, male and female (with a brown cap) feeding, and the two different alarm calls for an aerial predator like a sparrowhawk, and for a predator on the ground, like a fox or a cat.

Maurice also has another attractive video with willow warbler songs, which are rather wistful I always think.  These are not so common locally. They prefer woodland near water with birch willow and alder trees.  They look almost identical to chiffchaffs but the song could not be more different.  Many thanks to Maurice Baker for these videos.