The Blackcap is one of the Sylvia warblers, a family of small insect-eating birds characterised by quick movements and rich song. Whilst many of this family spend their winter in sub-Saharan Africa, the Blackcap spends its winter around the Mediterranean. The shorter commute to West Sussex means that the Blackcap is one of the earliest of our migratory birds to arrive.
Blackcaps are a similar size to a Robin. He is a smart bird who is smoky grey with a black cap reaching to the upper part of the eye. The female lacks the black cap, but instead wears a rich conker-brown one.
He has a brilliant song…bright and bouncy with a slight scratch and clear melodious notes reminiscent of a Blackbird. It’s a song that fills me with joy – a sign that spring has truly arrived and a taster of the fabulous Dawn Chorus that we’ll be enjoying over the coming months.
It’s loud and lovely song has prompted comparison with the Nightingale – the Blackcap is also known as the March or Northern Nightingale – arriving and singing earlier than the true Nightingale who arrives later in April and who is not found north of an imaginary line which stretches from the River Severn to the Humber estuary.
Where can you hear it? Blackcaps are quite widespread and whilst considered to be a woodland bird, they can be found in wide dense hedgerows and in larger gardens too. Here at Pulborough Brooks, by early April you can hear them singing all around the nature trail.
