[John Mason]

What's this? Photographed this afternoon at the veg garden and a first for there, whatever it is! It was active but very shy: this is a digital crop of a 200mm shot from as close as I could get. One of the warblers perhaps? I have a job to tell them apart!

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[Dave K]

Either a willow warbler or a chiffchaff. Did you hear any song at all?

[John Mason]

No Dave, it was quiet, but very actively bombing around through the bushes.

[Uskys]

Yes, WW or CC. John have you a photo of the side (wing) ... if its a WW it will have a 'yellow' line like on this one I took yesterday:

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[west wales nige]

I would second Dave K suggestions and they are both common in our area, from your description of 'very actively bombing about through the bushes' I favour chiffchaff but really thats a best guess as they really are two very similar birds often or even usually identified by song.A side view as above is much more informative but as you know what you see is what you see!

This post has been edited by west wales nige: 16 April 2013 - 16:04

[Halo]

The songs can be heard below (if you are unfamiliar that is):

http://www.bto.org/a...bler-chiffchaff

If it hangs around your area then at some stage it will sing. I have a chiff chaff flitting round my garden at the moment. You can hear it singing at times.

Oh there is a video as well.

This post has been edited by Halo: 16 April 2013 - 16:14

[John Mason]

Uskys, on 16 April 2013 - 16:01, said:

Yes, WW or CC. John have you a photo of the side (wing) ... if its a WW it will have a 'yellow' line like on this one I took yesterday:

In that case - willow warbler. The other photos were less good but yes that is a detail I picked out on one of them - a fairly faint but noticeable golden bar.Thanks all

[Uskys]

John Mason, on 16 April 2013 - 16:29, said:

In that case - willow warbler. The other photos were less good but yes that is a detail I picked out on one of them - a fairly faint but noticeable golden bar.Thanks all

John, as others have commented, it's the song that counts... my own visual id via that bar is unreliable, though I'm happy with it. Others have similar and some WW don't show this which starts to become awkward..... listen to those recordings Halo's linked..... you only have to hear the chiffchaff because it's unmistakable.

Just don't ask for an ID on a possible marsh tit/ willow tit. These are almost impossible to id by every method except dna!

[fiveleaves45]

Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler are very similar looking and best separated by their song. I am going for chiffchaff as it has darker legs and the legs look dark in the photo