The Brits amongst you, and maybe other nationalities (who might know him as Waldo), will no doubt have heard of ‘Where’s Wally?‘, a series of puzzle books where the illustrator has ‘hidden’ the character Wally in a huge crowd of people. Well, in my version, instead of looking for Wally in a crowd, I was trying to pick out my first (Common) Whitethroat (Sylvia communis) from where it was joyously singing in a scrambled mass of bramble scrub. If you look carefully, you might just be able to spot its head.

I love this time of year, when our migrating birds wing their way back to our shores for the breeding season. The latest migrant to arrive locally has been the Whitethroat (Common whitethroat, if you prefer) (Sylvia communis). I heard my first four days ago, on the 18th. It showed briefly, on a tree branch, but fairly quickly ducked back down into the scrub below. Then, yesterday, I heard three Whitethroats during my five-mile walk – they will continue to arrive for a few weeks yet, some passing through to other areas, some remaining to breed locally. The handsome little chap in my photo seemed to have found his happy place, a large area of impenetrable (to humans) trees and scrub. He was singing and songflighting, both claiming this location for himself and announcing his presence and many impressive qualities to any passing females. If I’d been a female Whitethroat, I’d certainly have been interested.