Wildlife
Willow warblers look almost identical to chiffchaffs. Telling these two warblers apart is extremely tricky visually, though they can easily be identified by their song. Tiny willow warblers produce a most beautiful liquid warble that rises in volume. One of Britain's most abundant warblers, they build distinctive, dome-shaped nests with a hole in the side, close to the ground. Into these oven-like nests, very small eggs are laid - eggs so tiny that three weigh the same as a one pence coin. Unusually for birds, they moult their feathers twice a year.
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Meals in minutes
Ground-nesting willow warblers feed their young chicks 50 times an hour.
Ground-nesting willow warblers feed their young chicks 50 times an hour.
Warblers away
After days of anticipation, the willow warblers finally fledge.
After days of anticipation, the Pensthorpe willow warblers finally fledge.
Toad in the hole
An uninvited guest visits a willow warbler nest.
An uninvited guest visits the willow warbler nest.
Little brown jobs
It's easier to identify almost identical woodland birds by song.
It's easier to identify almost identical woodland birds by song.
The Willow warbler can be found in a number of locations including: Asia, Europe, United Kingdom, Wales, Ynys-hir nature reserve. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Willow warbler distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
The Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and Asia, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strongly migratory, with almost all of the population wintering in sub-Saharan Africa.
It is a bird of open woodlands with trees and ground cover for nesting, including most importantly birch, alder, and willow habitats. The nest is usually built in close contact with the ground, often in low vegetation. Like most Old World warblers (Sylviidae), this small passerine is insectivorous. In northern Europe, it is one of the first warblers to return in the spring though is later than the closely related Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita.
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The Pensthorpe Willow Warblers In 2010 Springwatch followed a family of willow warblers who have constructed a low-laying nest at Pensthorpe.
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Garden birds
Nestcam close-ups, expert identification guides and specialist wildlife cameras give a privileged view of a very British obsession: garden birds.
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Oak wood
Farmland
Beech wood
Hedgerows
Parkland
Broadleaf forest
Helpless young
Migration
Adapted to flying
Acoustic communication
Moulting
Egg layer
Parental investment