First Chiff-chaff

Coxley Beck2.40 p.m.: I keep hearing a chiff-chaff in the background but always slightly drowned out by the sound of other birds or the sound of the beck, which is rushing along today brownish with sediment after yesterday’s rain. It’s only when a warbler hops along the branches of a willow that has fallen across the stream that I really believe that I’ve heard it. I get a better chance to hear the song when a chiff-chaff starts singing from the top of the willow at the other side of the stream.

chiff-chaffchiff-chaffBritish Summertime started at the weekend so it’s appropriate that warblers are now touching down after their return from Africa.

41ºF, 5ºc, pressure 998 mb, 29.4 in, sunshine and fairly heavy showers