In the late summer some woodlands, scrub and hedgerows can seem to be awash with small birds with slender bills and legs, tirelessly on the go, nimbly flitting through the foliage.
What are they? They are warblers. To give them their systematic name they are phylloscopus or leaf warblers. There are currently thought to be in excess of 70 species of these ‘old world warblers’ on our side of the Atlantic.
Most are rather plain little birds – in muted tones of green, yellow or brown – and identification, to say the least, can be difficult. Many are long-distance migrants.