A couple of days ago, the bird ringer caught and ringed 83 birds here in one morning – that kept him busy, he was delighted but exhausted. 65 of these birds were Chiffchaffs and if he managed to catch 65 in his nets, then many, many hundreds must be passing through the meadows on their journey south to the Mediterranean and West Africa.

Certainly we are noticing them in the hedgerows. They have a characteristic tail wagging, wing flicking action and they flit and fidget around, often with tight loop the loop flights to catch passing insects. Completely insectivorous – there is nothing on the feeders for them.

A small olive-brown warbler with marked eye stripe and dark legs. In the spring it has a very distinctive call of Chiff-Chaff after which it gets its name but it doesn’t sing at this time of year.

As we sit in the hide and watch Chiffchaffs, we cannot help but also notice a flock of Goldfinch that have taken a liking to the pond and feeders. There are 30 to 40 birds in the flock and they are quite a noisy group.

Its lovely to see them enjoying what we have provided.