Lesser Whitethroat

Curruca curruca

Unlike the perky, inquisitive Common Whitethroat, the Lesser Whitethroat is one of those birds with the superpower of anonymity. 

They are superficially similar to the Common Whitethroat, but with a darker grey head and a greyer back. These birds like thicker, taller scrub and bigger, older hedgerows, where they are often rather tucked away, much less extrovert that their cousins. 

The song is easy to miss too. They have a quiet scratchy warble, often practically inaudible, and a much louder ‘rattle’ made up of one note in a rapid series.

This rattle might easily be dismissed as something else, perhaps a greenfinch or a yellowhammer, especially as it’s often hard to see what’s making the noise. 

But once you are tuned in to it it’s amazing how many more lesser whitethroats you may hear.

When I started to become interested in birds I was convinced that lesser whitethroats were terribly rare, until I saw one singing and realised it was the same sound I heard every summer around the allotments in our village. 

The Lesser is not as widely distributed as the Common, but can be found in parts of Wales and southern Scotland, and through most of England.

Give it a try from late April.

Find a green lane or scrubby patch and listen out for that rattle. With some luck or patience you may glimpse the rather neat, dark-headed little warbler behind it, and join the relatively small band of people who have knowingly spent time with a lesser whitethroat.

Thanks to Fintan O'Brien @fintanobrien for the recording of the lesser whitethroat song.
The image of a lesser whitethroat is by hedara.baltica on Flickr reproduced under Creative Commons licence CC BY-SA 2.0