Birds / Warblers

Whitethroat

Curruca communis

Also known as Common whitethroat

Uncommon Summer visitor Farmland Heath

Test yourself

Recording: Kalle Nibbenhagen / xeno-canto

Sounds like

A short, fast, scratchy burst, often delivered in a jerky song flight above a hedge.

Remember it

A quick, irritable scribble of sound.

When and where

Listening for the whitethroat

Heard: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Apr to Jul
Time of day: Day
Where: Farmland, Heath
In Britain: Summer visitor
Family: Warblers

Side by side

Often confused with

Play them one after the other and listen for the difference.

Whitethroat

Curruca communis

JFMAMJJASOND

A quick, irritable scribble of sound.

Lesser Whitethroat

Curruca curruca

JFMAMJJASOND

Mumbles to itself, then rattles like a stick run along railings.

Sedge Warbler

Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

JFMAMJJASOND

A reed warbler on too much coffee.

Could you pick out a whitethroat?

Hear a song, choose from four birds, and build your streak.

Play the quiz

Same habitat

Also in farmland

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Blackbird

Turdus merula

JFMAMJJASOND

Slow, rich, fluting phrases that wander about and often trail off into a quiet chuckle.

Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs

JFMAMJJASOND

A cheerful, accelerating run of notes that tumbles down and ends in a flourish, repeated over and over.

Dunnock

Prunella modularis

JFMAMJJASOND

A hurried, flat, squeaky warble that stays on one level and stops abruptly, like a squeaky wheel turning.

Goldfinch

Carduelis carduelis

JFMAMJJASOND

Bright, liquid, tinkling twitters with a 'tickelit' call, often from small flocks feeding on seed heads.