The Lemon Fool

This was in trees beside a quiet road in the Cairngorms. Very small, smaller than a robin. Chiffchaff or willow warbler maybe?



Scott.

With dark legs and , seemingly , no yellowish breast ,I'd guess chiff-chaff.

I’m guessing Wood warbler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_warbler

swill453 wrote:This was in trees beside a quiet road in the Cairngorms. Very small, smaller than a robin. Chiffchaff or willow warbler maybe?
Scott.

Chiffchaff or willow warbler but almost impossible to tell definitively. The song is the only sure way to tell them apart.

We have had a chiffchaff near us that sings chaff-chiff then switches mid song for a few calls then reverts again. Not uncommon I believe.

swill453 wrote:This was in trees beside a quiet road in the Cairngorms. Very small, smaller than a robin. Chiffchaff or willow warbler maybe?



Scott.

Chiffchaff. It has brown legs. Willow Warblers legs are "black".

Well in fairness I'm no expert but here's a helping hand

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2 ... w-warbler/

AiY

Springwatch had a section on willow warbler vs chiffchaff today.

On BBC iplayer serach for Springwatch 2021 Episode 9, and it starts at 29 minutes with nesting habits of the willow warbler, before moving on to how to tell them apart.

mike wrote:Springwatch had a section on willow warbler vs chiffchaff today.

On BBC iplayer serach for Springwatch 2021 Episode 9, and it starts at 29 minutes with nesting habits of the willow warbler, before moving on to how to tell them apart.

And the conclusion was - listen to their call. The chiff-chaff call is the most reliable identifier.