For many birders, the first proper sign of spring comes when they hear the cheery two-note song of the chiffchaff, a small, migratory warbler which, like the kittiwake and the cuckoo, is named after the sound it makes.
Chiffchaffs spend the winter far closer to home than most other members of their family: the majority heading to Spain, Portugal or north-west Africa. This is in sharp contrast to their close relative the willow warbler, which heads all the way across the Saharato southern Africa, and usually arrives back here from early April, two or three weeks later than the chiffchaff.
