Cetti’s Warbler

Cettia cetti

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

14cm. Sturdy dark warbler with very short wings and long, heavy, round-ended tail. Plumage warm red-brown, mid-greyish below, dark eyestripe and pale supercilium. Legs dull pinkish.

VOICE

Song an abrupt burst of powerful, fluty notes, heard all year round.

HABITAT

Found across most of southern Europe, recent colonist of southern Britain. Resident. Occurs in damp and well-vegetated areas including reedbed edges and overgrown ditches.

FOOD AND HABITS

Feeds on all manner of small insects and other invertebrates. Extremely skulking and difficult to observe, slipping mouse-like through thick, low vegetation. As a non-migrating insectivore, can suffer population crashes in very severe winters.

Grasshopper Warbler

Locustella naevia

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

12.5cm. Small, rather drab warbler with long, round-ended tail. Plumage dull grey-brown, paler below, throat whitish. Darker streaking on crown, back and on the very elongated undertail-coverts.

VOICE

Song a continuous extremely fast dry trill, sounding like an angler’s reel. Call a crisp ‘stit’.

HABITAT

Summer visitor to most of Europe, widespread but rather uncommon in much of Britain. Long weedy grass and marshland edges.

FOOD AND HABITS

Insect-eater. Usually difficult to see, its strange song hard to pin down, and often sings from within deep cover, but some individuals more showy. Moves low and mouse-like through vegetation.

Sedge Warbler

Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

13cm. Olive-brown streaked-backed warbler with a rounded tail and rufous-coloured rump. Conspicuous creamy-white stripe above the eye. Sexes look similar.

VOICE

Loud, jumbly and scratchy song.

HABITAT

Waterside vegetation near reed beds, rivers and lakes, and lowland marshes; also dry scrubby areas. Summer visitor to Britain, migrating to Africa in late summer.

FOOD AND HABITS

Mainly eats insects; takes berries in autumn. Nests in rank vegetation.

Reed Warbler

Acrocephalus scirpaceus

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

13cm. Small olive-brown warbler with slight rufous tinge to its upperparts. Buff-coloured below. Rounded tail. Sexes look similar.

VOICE

Monotonous churring song.

HABITAT

Mainly reed beds. Summer visitor to Britain.

FOOD AND HABITS

Eats water insects. In autumn feeds on berries, which provide energy for its long migratory flight. Builds a nest of woven grasses slung between reed stems. Common host to Cuckoo.

Common Whitethroat

Sylvia communis

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

14cm. Male has a grey head, a bright white throat, brown upperparts and pale underparts. Female has a brown head. Tail long and slim.

VOICE

Call a sharp ‘tacc, tacc’. Song a rapid warble.

HABITAT

Open woodland, gardens, hedgerows and scrub. Summer visitor to Britain.

FOOD AND HABITS

Eats mainly insects, and some fruits and berries in autumn. Nests in brambles and low bushes not far from the ground.

Common Chiffchaff

Phylloscopus collybita

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

11cm. Small neat bird with a fine bill and thin legs. Very similar to Willow Warbler. Primaries shorter. Legs usually dark and bill even finer. Stripe above the eye less distinct, while darkish patch beneath the eye emphasizes white eyering.

VOICE

Call a soft ‘hueet’. Song a distinctively slow ‘chiff-chaff-chiff-chaff’.

HABITAT

Open deciduous woodland with some scrub. A few overwinter, often in sheltered coastal areas.

FOOD AND HABITS

Similar to Willow Warbler.

Willow Warbler

Phylloscopus trochilus

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

11.5cm. Head, back and tail generally brownish-green; throat and eyebrow yellowish; legs usually pale brown. Primary feathers project beyond tertials.

VOICE

Call a soft ‘huitt’ similar to Common Chiffchaff’s. Song rather sad.

HABITAT

Summer visitor to northern Europe, common and widespread in Britain, especially the north. Breeds in mainly deciduous woodland, on migration visits coastal copses and scrub.

FOOD AND HABITS

Feeds on insects found among leaves. Nest a grassy dome on or near the ground.

Yellow-browed Warbler

Phylloscopus inornatus

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

10cm. Tiny, Goldcrest-like warbler with green and yellow plumage. Has bold face pattern with green crown, yellow supercilium and blackish eyestripe, wings have double yellow wingbar, rest of upperside bright moss-green, underside whitish.

VOICE

Disyllabic high-pitched ‘soo-eet’.

HABITAT

Breeds in Siberia, occurs in Britain as a vagrant or rare passage migrant. Most appear in mid-autumn on the east coast, often in small stands of sycamore trees (these keep their leaves longer into autumn and therefore hold more insect prey).

FOOD AND HABITS

Searches leaves for tiny insects, often hovers, extremely active. May join tit flocks. Occasionally overwinters.