The repetitive "
chiff-chaff chiff-chaff" is instantly recognisable.
In the misty, tangled sky Fast a wind is blowing In a newborn rabbit's heart River life is flowing So begins another spring Green leaves and of berries
Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by Mother bird eating cherries From the dark and whetted soil Petals are unfolding From the stony village kirk Easter bells of old ring So begins another spring Green leaves and of berries
Chiff-chaff eggs are painted by Mother bird eating cherries.
Though less in the manner of a
chiff-chaff or swallow, and more in the fashion of a French alpine skivvy, selling her soul - sorry, services - for what I think they used to call a stipend, plus a lift pass and her body weight in lemon drizzle cake.
And no re-reporting of the chilling
chiff-chaff that is tweeted with abandon by sensation-seeking sickos.
Chiffity, chiffity,
chiff-chaff!" It gives the elegant poetry of Ole Miss' Hotty Toddy cheer ("flim-flam bim-barn") a run for its money as the SEC's most eloquent cheer.
"Birds are realising there are more insects around and we are seeing summer migrants, like the
chiff-chaff, coming back, and mallards and great-crested grebes are looking around for suitable nest sites.
At Morfa Madryn a
chiff-chaff was in full song last weekend - before the end of February.
They flit from tree to tree, stopping only to give a burst of regularly repeated "
chiff-chaff" song or to eat insects.
I heard my first
chiff-chaff warbler last week, fresh back from its winter sojourn in East Africa.
Chiff-chaffs, almost identical to their cousin willow warblers but differing in leg colour - the willow warbler's are flesh coloured whilst the
chiff-chaff 's are black - is one of the earliest of the warblers to arrive here, their monotonous '
chiff-chaff ' call heard as early as late March.And amidst the growing avian chorus, I have also heard the rich voices of garden warblers, the archetypal 'little brown birds'.