Of birds and bees

The Chiffchaffs are calling........

The overall brown colour and hint of an eyestripe are key to identifying ChiffChaffs

Chiffchaffs are calling in Crow wood today. There are at least three of them celebrating a warm and sunny day. They are one of the earliest migrants to arrive and one of the latest to leave although quite a few stay all winter as long as the weather stays mild. They are not much to look at being small brown birds but its their chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff call that stands out and is such a good sound to hear at the start of spring.

They like to call from the tops of trees and one today was right at the top of our Coast Redwood, all 90ft up, calling away all afternoon. They are members of the warbler family of birds and part of a sub-group called Leaf Warblers as they hunt for small insects in amongst leaves.  They can take insects in flight too and are expert foragers.

They are not uncommon birds at all and found in most places where there are trees and reasonable ground cover as unusually for such a high-flier they nest close to the ground. I have never seen a nest but hope that they do manage to breed in our wood somewhere as they are very welcome visitors.