Chiffchaff - 1949 status

Phylloscopus collybita collybita

"By far the most numerous of our summer visitors, and is greatly in excess of the Willow Warbler" - Mathew, who quotes Dix as saying that in the north-east of the county it is "about equal in number to the willow warbler".  Dix is right; but for the rest of the county the Chiffchaff predominates.  Mathew says a few remain throughout the winter, and this is the case to-day, in mild winters.  On passage through the islands, this species is much less numerous than the Willow-Warblers.  Usually arrives first week in March.

R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society