Chiff Chaff in Garden this afternoon

[Guinnessman1974]

Had a Chiffchaff in my garden today, I recognised the soft 'Hweet' call, and saw it feeding on insects in the conifers at the top of my garden. Nice. Has anyone else seen these birds or Willow Warblers this week?

Maybe this one might spend the winter here?

Are wintering chiffchaffs our summer migrants, or are they European birds (as in the case of Blackcaps, for example, some of which spend the winter here after summering on the European continent).

[Gatekeeper]

I've had 2 or 3 Chiffchaff pass through the garden in the last week. I usually have 1 or 2 visiting the garden throughout the Winter, and a similar number of Blackcap; although I did have 5 Blackcap in the garden for most of last Winter. Hard to say where the individual birds originate, but I suspect it varies depending on various factors, including food supply and temperature.

[Picidae]

There's probably some local movement within the uk but it's generally thought that most of the wintering Chiffchaff (some 500-1000) are UK residents wintering over. However, there are annual winter records of Chiffchaff entering Uk from Siberia but the reliable identification of this sub species remains very problematic.

[RKB]

Has the origin of wintering Chiffchaffs been sorted out yet? I thought it was still 'ongoing work'? I know there was a colour-ringing study (Greg Conway) but I'm not sure if they relocated them in the summer - can't remember seeing the results.

Quite a lot are migrating at the moment though, and many are probably from overseas (judging by counts on the coast).

[gentlefern]

I heard Chiff-chaffs on Gower on Saturday (Bishopston area). I'm very much a beginner with bird calls but I love chiff chaffs as they are pretty distinctive. One of the few I can confidently identify.

[Gatekeeper]

Had a Chiffchaff in the garden today.

[Chas]

Just for the record I have had Chiffchaff in my garden on two different days in the last week or so. There were two in the presence of a small Tit flock. Chiffchaffs do over winter here in Devon as well so it was not a massive surprise.

[Deb London]

Two possible Chiffchaff yesterday here in London. Again, with a mixed flock of tits, headed by many Long-tailed.

[Tobyh]

Hi there,

I've had a couple in my garden this last week but also nipped to Dungeness RSPB on saturday where they seemed to be everywhere. Lots of them hunting in the scrubby areas.

Couple of pics I grabbed -




Click them when they open to view at the full siez and sharpness.

Lovely little birds in my opinion.

TobyH

[RobinP]

At least one in my garden today with the tit pack.

Robin