The first song of spring

For birdwatchers keeping an eye open for the return of summer migrants, the chiffchaff is one of the first heralds of spring, returning in March from its wintering grounds in southern Europe and North Africa.

Small numbers of chiffchaffs can spend the winter in the UK where the weather is relatively mild, but it’s during the early spring that chiffchaffs return in their droves to more than one million breeding territories across Hampshire and the UK.

With a wingspan of only 18cm and weighing in the same as a wren at 9g (about the weight of a £1 coin), these tiny scraps of feathered life make an amazing journey of more than 2,000 miles from their wintering grounds, crossing mountains and sea and all the perils they hold. Typically for such small birds, their lifespan is only two years, with the record being a stately seven years, seven months and 24 days.