Overcast, 10º, light WNW.
A 3rd Blackcap now visiting the garden but this time a male as well as the 2 females that have been around for a couple of weeks now.
There appears to be a quite a few wintering Warblers in Oxfordshire at the moment. There have been at least 4 records of Blackcap in Cholsey and a Chiffchaff so far this winter and there have been quite a few Blackcap and Chiffchaff records in the county also.
Chiffchaffs have been seen in many places in the county as well this winter including “tristis” and “Abietinus” type Chiffchaffs (sub species).
The nominate Chiffchaff “Phylloscopus collybita collybita” is a summer migrant and breeds in Europe east to Poland and Bulgaria, It mainly winters in the south of its breeding range around the Mediterranean and in North Africa.
P.c. Abietinus occurs in Scandinavia and northern Russia, and winters from southeastern Europe and northeastern Africa east to Iraq and western Iran.
P.c. tristis the Siberian Chiffchaff, breeds in Siberia east of the Pechora River and winters in the lower Himalayas. It is also regularly recorded in Western Europe in winter.
There are subtle differences in plumage and calls for the sub species of Chiffchaff that occur.
Moreover, to top that there is a wintering Common Whitethroat in Cuddesdon, east of Oxford and as far as we know this is the first winter record for this species in Oxon. The latest I have seen one is in mid November but they are normally all gone south by late October.
The cause? Who knows, maybe climate change!
http://oxonbirding.blogspot.com/2012/02/not-quite-oxon-streatley.html
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Male Blackcap in Cholsey
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