Dave Clark is an ornithologist with an MSc in Ornithology from the University of Birmingham and environmental campaigner with a particular interest in the interactions between birds and humans.
Dave is keen to spread the word about the importance of urban areas for wildlife and improving our engagement with nature. He can be reached at [email protected].
In these strange times, potentially bogged down in a cycle of Netflix comedy repeats, it would be easy to contemplate Phylloscopus collybita as a phrase used to raise a tongue in cheeky rumbuctious smile or two. For instance in the Fast Show, `Phylloscopus collybita…….hmm suits you sir`, in a Tony Hancock sketch visiting his doctor with severe belly ache`a bit of collybita` or indeed in a Carry On film. I can just imagine Charles Hawtrey announcing Phylloscopus collybita, and Kenneth Williams with his characteristic nasal charm retorting `I`’d so something about that if I were you!`.
Well usually I do. I mean I usually do something about it. Around this time of year to satisfy my craving for a dose of Phylloscopus Collybita I have a wander through gardens, parks and woods and immerse myself in its viral spread. It`s a contagion I embrace. A prescription and a cure from the winter blues The emergence of the Common Chiffchaff engenders a deeply satisfying joy rather than a forced TV smirk, as it signals the onset of warmer weather. Flying in from West Africa weighing less than two teaspoons of sugar these fluffy bundles herald spring tidings of life affirming delight. It`s a proper little biophilic catalyst.
The charm of the Chiffchaff lies in its subtlety. It is what it is. Undemonstrative, unpretentious unassuming, an all encompassing understatement. The Chiffchaff eschews the heavy mascara preferred by another vernal avian harbinger the dapper moustachioed Wheatear for a more refined delicate eyeliner. The Wheatear displays its more obvious charms and boldly confides `Look at me, you seen how far I`’ve flown just to sit on this fence post for you?….a round of applause might be nice`. Whilst the Chiffchaff gets on with scouring the underside of leaves for aphids and other insects hence Phylloscopus, often furtively out of visibility at the top of trees. The males pioneer for territories and pronounce their arrival with a delicate rattling of loose change hence Collybitta the sound of money clinking. None of this end of the pier show repartee espoused by the summer arrivals; the screaming Swift and the outrageously beautiful Swallow prancing about in an Edwardian frock coat; the winged Beau Brummel. If at all the Chiffchaff does do a bit of tail wagging but behind the scenes.
Everything about this graceful warbler whispers style and delicacy, the female creates a nest low down in brambles and nettles with a care and attention to detail lining the dome shaped cradle with fine grasses and finally with feathers. Her eggs echo this restrained refinement, rich creamy white dabbed with small purple motifs……what`s not to like?
We could learn a lot from the Chiffchaff as within all this characteristic humility lies success and survival. Along with many other bird species the Chiffchaff suffered large losses in the 1970`s but unlike many migratory birds has come back strongly and has increased abundance and range within the UK….it`s doing well and that adds to the smiles. That is despite an onerous lifestyle, having to eat a third of its body weight daily to survive, making up to fifteen hundred trips (!) to construct the nest and enduring heavy seasonal population losses through predation from baby faced feline assassins, mustelids and birds of prey. Then it’s time to go leaving our shores from late August through September back to Iberia and Africa in a series of energy-sapping hops. Life isn`t easy but you have to get on with it.
Phylloscopus collybita, the Common Chiffchaff colloquially known as the Huck Muck, Chip Chop, Feather Poke or my particularly favourite Lui Piccolo (Italian). I make no apology here for anthropomorphising this little gem……………we could learn a lot from this survivor…humility for a start.
Phylloscopus collybita..indeed it does suit me sir.
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Great somebody shares my chiffchaffy delight.
Thank you, Dave, delightful account.