If like me, you have been watching the BBC’s latest series of Springwatch, you will have noticed this year’s footage of the graceful willow warbler feeding her brood of chicks.
The willow warbler is a summer visitor to Britain, between April and September. In fact, out of the various species of warbler in Britain (Garden, Reed, Sedge, Cetti’s, Grasshopper,Wood and Dartford) the willow warbler is the most common, with over two million birds flying over from Africa each year. Despite these large numbers, the willow warbler can be tricky to identify, due to a striking resemblance to the chiffchaff, however the warbler has flesh-coloured legs, whilst chiffchaff legs are dark. A further difference is in their song, the warbler having a superior, musical phrase.
Willow warblers have beautifully subtle colouration, covering a range of browns, greys, olive greens on their backs, white and yellows underneath, with a pale yellow stripe above their eyes. Juveniles can be a brighter shade of yellow. Willow warblers are unusual in that they undergo two full moults per year, once over summer before migration, and another in Africa before returning to Britain. Adults are around 11cm in length (around the size of a Blue Tit). For practise in recognising them, check out the BBC’s live webcam, or listen to their song on the RSPB website.
They can generally be found in most woodlands, with a tendency to prefer birch trees, where they feed on insects and berries. Due to a decline in numbers, the willow warbler is now an amber-listed species, but despite this the BBC cameras are focused on the nest of a mother and her young. The female builds a nest in a domed shape, from leaves and mosses, and then incubates between 4-8 eggs until they hatch after a fortnight. At this point both parents share feeding duties.
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