This member of the warbler<\/a> family sings persistently right through to July. A waif of a bird, olive-green and undistinguished, but restless and flitty and quite easy to see, mainly in woods with tall trees.<\/p>\n In this guide we take a closer look at the chiffchaff, including what they look like, their song and nesting habits.<\/p>\n Interested in learning more about Britain\u2019s birds? Check out our guides to finches<\/a>, tits<\/a>, woodpeckers<\/a> and thrushes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Warblers are a group of small, often green-brown birds with varied songs. Learn more about these spring and summer songsters with our guide to the warblers of Britain.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> The bird itself is blue tit<\/a> sized, but an unremarkable olive-green in colour. If you get a decent look you will see a pale eyebrow. Its tail seems to be attached to a different nervous system; the bird constantly twitches it down, and this habit is a good way to tell chiffchaff from the very similar, but less twitchy willow warbler<\/a>.<\/p>\n The chiffchaff also has shorter wings, black legs and a more obvious white ring around the eye.<\/p>\n Few songs lift the heart quite like that of the chiffchaff. It\u2019s nothing much, just a cyclical repetition of \u201cchiff\u201d and \u201cchaff\u201d to make a phrase \u2013 in fact, after a while it can be quite annoying. But it\u2019s the context. The chiffchaff has always been one of the first summer visitors to arrive en masse in Britain from Africa, often in early March, and its cheerful utterance is a proclamation that winter is all but over.<\/p>\n You often hear your first one from bare branches, or from the first willow blossom<\/a>. The song\u2019s breeziness is redolent of the capricious weather moods of March.<\/p>\nWarblers of the UK<\/h4>\n
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<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>What does a chiffchaff look like?<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Chiffchaff song<\/h2>\n