Whitethroats

Absolutely not scientific in any way, but I think that the Whitethroat seems to be doing well.

Last year, a section of a track way, with bits of hedge and scrubby areas on each side, that takes me about 10 minutes to walk, revealed 3 Whitethroat. This year, the same walk seems to be holding 7 singing males.

In the winter of 1968/69, Whitethroat numbers suddenly crashed due to a severe drought on their wintering grounds, which are just to the south of the Sahara desert. Since then a slow but relatively steady recovery has taken place. It demonstrates how, just a one year severe weather change can radically affect a species - sometimes in a positive way, but also in a devastating manner.

A Whitethroat singing its short burst of scratchy notes

Whitethroat are fairly easy to spot, as often the male will sit on a vantage point right at the top of a bush, to shout out his rattling, rather hoarse song. Occasionally, he will also take off and fly up vertically, then drop back down to his perch, singing away throughout the display. This is undoubtedly a performance to impress the girls and also to confirm that this area is HIS territory!     

Whitethroat can be seen and heard throughout the UK, especially on farmland with an abundance of hedges and scrubby areas. Although the male is easily spotted, the female and her nest is a different matter. The nest is usually on or close to the ground, hidden away in in thick grass or low bramble. 

My sister, who lives in Worcestershire, told me that she thought that there were not quite as many Whitethroat around as last year. So, who knows, we will obviously just have to wait and see what the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) figures show us at the end of the year. 

Anyway, in the meantime, I will thoroughly enjoy walking my "Whitethroat track" in the mornings this summer!