Bog Myrtle & Peat

I must admit that my self proclaimed mastery of British ornithology has recently been called into question. Usually, I can happily identify the majority of our bird species with the slightest glimpse or whistle, but I have recently been struggling with three birds who are effectively interchangeable. They belong to an avian family which is defined by being small and  mousey. They flicker around through the treetops like little grey bumble bees and it is quite possible that several species could become extinct without anyone noticing at all.

Chiffchaffs are the noisiest, and their song is pleasantly repetitive, but I have to confess that their identical twins (wood and willow warblers) have escaped my notice altogether. When walking past the woodcock strip the other day, I noticed a tiny grey shape and took a photograph of it. That picture is now the central image above. Submitting it to iSpot, I was informed that it is a willow warbler. Looking online for more information, I found a picture of a wood warbler (left) and a chiffchaff (right) and was amazed that anyone could tell the difference at all. It is a pleasure to have willow warblers on the Chayne, but I wonder what it is that stops them from being wood warblers or chiffchaffs and vice versa.