Whitethroat

The Whitethroat is a medium-sized, long-tailed warbler. Male Whitethroats have grey heads, brown backs, pinkish-buff breasts and bright white throats. Female Whitethroats are duller in colour and have brown heads.

It is a summer visitor and passage migrant. It breeds widely, but avoids mountainous and urban areas. Whitethroats spend their winter in Africa, south of the Sahara, leaving Britain’s shores in early October.

The Whitethroat can be seen in bushy places, hedgerows, grassland and woodland edges, from April to October. They feed on insects, and berries and fruit in autumn.

Male Whitethroats arrive in Britain about 10 days before the females, to set up territories before the females arrive. They build nests out of twigs and roots and the females then decide which nest to use.