Probable Iberian Chiffchaff, Codsall, Staffs, 13th May 2001 © Mark Reeder
Taken with an Olympus 960Z, through a Kowa TSN4. "Whilst we were present it constantly sang both like a Common Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler it also had snatches of song similar to Chaffinch and Cetti's Warbler." M. Reeder
"I was interested to read the comments (above) accompanying the photo of the Codsall Chiffchaff. For what its worth ,locally in N.Ireland I was asked to check out a bird about 2 weeks ago which had a weird Chiffchaff song and was thought to be possibly a Siberian Chiffchaff. I didn't manage to see the bird but on a recording I received to me it sounded like a mix of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff (though it did sound initially rather remarkable, like neither species, only with careful listening did the willow/chiff mix become apparent)...then at the end it returned to a full but atypically fast Chiffchaff song....a phenomenon that has been recorded before both in the old (Witherby) Handbook and more recently in a British Birds article* from about 10 years ago. I wonder if such a hybrid or variant Chiffchaff has been eliminated in regard to the Codsall bird." Martin Garner
*(British Birds comment refers to 3 contributions to the notes section in British Birds Vol. 79. no. 7 July 1986 Pages 340 to 342)
"We had a strange warbler at Watermead Park (Birstall GP section) in Leicestershire for a couple of days some years back. I didn't see or hear the bird myself, but it was described as singing alternately as both Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. We had records of the bird from experienced observers as both these species - clearly it was not a 'normal' bird. Unfortunately, it was at a time before Iberian Chiffchaff was widely known about, so this never entered the debate. Whether it was an Iberian Chiffchaff, or, as would seem more likely in this case, a Willow Warbler x Chiffchaff hybrid, or even something else, we will unfortunately never know. Whatever it was, it was evidently a most intriguing and perplexing bird. No doubt we will have more interesting Phylloscopus warblers to come..." Richard Fray
Taken with Nikon CoolPix 990 through Kowa TSN 823 scope
© Paul Hackett
© Paul Hackett
"First seen flying over Milton Keynes, this bird was then relocated at Willen Lake and stayed for several hours after which it was seen to fly north with some Gulls late in the evening." Steve Blain
Image taken with a Sony PC3 camcorder and Leica APO Televid with 20-60x zoom eyepiece. Magnification was about 200.
