Can you hear the chiffchaff chirping in the garden? If you do then you know that the English spring is here. Lots of Chiffchaffs means a really warm spring.
The tiny olive-green warbler migrates all the way to Africa every winter and is usually the earliest migrant bird species to return in March. Many as the first sound of spring regard its repeated two-note ‘chiff-chaff’ song.
Because of global warming and changing climate the number of chiffchaffs has reduced over the last few years, most are hit by unsettled spring weather on their journey across the Mediterranean. However, there is good news this spring since the numbers are up.
The changing pattern of chiffchaff arrival is visible on BirdTrack, the migration-monitoring website run by the British Trust for Ornithology. This only goes to confirm that 2007 is to be the hottest year yet.
Source: The independent
