This year they arrived about two weeks ago from their
wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa. At that time there were few leaves on the trees and shrubs and they could be clearly seen flitting from branch to branch, or singing while
perched, like the one in the picture above. They are more yellow than chiff-chaffs or
willow warblers, and at this time of year ours have yellow eye stripes which
are quite distinct through binoculars. Now they are not so easy to spot through the fresh leaves but their pleasant babbling can still be heard.
You can hear this song below. It really gets going from about 12 seconds into the video.
This Melodious Warbler was filmed in Corrèze, France. Thanks to Phillippe Facquet for publishing the film on Youtube.
