Chiffchaff (Common Chiffchaff)
Phylloscopus collybita
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Distribution Britain 2,100 (+5.0%) Ireland 836 (-7.3%)
Numbers breeding: Britain 640,000 + Ireland 290,000 European status: 16,500,000 (6% in Britain and Ireland = 7=) British population trend: recently increasing (+32% BBS){+26%} How likely are you to record it? 2160 squares (48.1%) Ranked 27 [26] |
There was a big expansion of breeding Chiffchaffs during the 19th century through England and into Scotland as well as throughout Ireland and Wales (few in Anglesey). By 100 years ago they were just about everywhere, in suitable habitats, north to the Lowlands of Scotland. Expansion continued through Ireland and onto some of the Irish islands and through the Scottish mainland and into the Inner Hebrides. New areas were colonised between the two Breeding Atlases including singing birds on the Western Isles and Orkney but they were lost from some areas of Western Ireland. The CBC showed a large increase following the cold winter of 1962/63 although most winter in the Mediterranean. However there was a subsequent loss in the early 1970s made up in the late 1980s so that the highest levels were regained — and there has been a 32% increase in the five-year BBS index. Probably at their highest population level at the moment.
The following Bird On! sketch is available:
Chiffchaff
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead