Lesser Whitethroat

The Lesser Whitethroat is a compact, rather grey warbler that shares the white throat patch of its more colourful relative but differs in overall tone and pattern. The upperparts are a cooler grey-brown, without the warm chestnut wing fringes of the Common Whitethroat, and a darker patch around the eye and ear coverts gives the face a slightly masked appearance.

It is a shy and often skulking bird, more often heard than seen, spending much of its time working through dense thorny cover.

The species is best identified by voice: its song opens with a quiet, indistinct warble before switching abruptly into a loud, monotonous rattle on a single note, quite unlike the scratchy warbling song of the Common Whitethroat.

Key field marks

• Grey-brown upperparts without chestnut wing fringing
• Darker grey patch around the eye and ear coverts, giving a masked look
• White throat, though slightly less bright and contrasting than Common Whitethroat
• Fairly short, dark bill and dark legs
• Compact, neat overall shape

Similar species

• Common Whitethroat: warmer brown overall with a chestnut wing panel, paler face without a mask, and a scratchy warbling song rather than a rattle.
• Garden Warbler: plainer-faced with no throat contrast and no rattling song.
• Whitethroat-type Sylvia/Curruca warblers generally: the combination of grey tones, dark face mask, and rattling song is diagnostic for Lesser Whitethroat.

Lesser Whitethroats breed across much of Europe and into central Asia, favouring dense, thorny scrub, thick hedgerows, and overgrown patches at woodland edges, often denser and more enclosed habitat than that chosen by Common Whitethroat.

They are long-distance migrants, with European breeders wintering mainly in northeastern Africa around the Nile Valley and the Horn of Africa, following a more easterly migration route than most other Sylvia-type warblers that winter further west.

They arrive on breeding grounds in spring and are often detected first by their distinctive rattling song from deep within a hedge.

Voice

The song begins with a quiet, subdued warbling that is easy to miss, then breaks into a loud, dry, monotonous rattle delivered on a single note, quite unlike any other common European warbler song. The call is a hard "tack."

Feeding

Insects and spiders gleaned from dense foliage make up most of the diet during the breeding season, with berries taken more frequently in late summer and autumn.

Nesting and breeding

The nest is a compact cup built low in dense, thorny scrub such as blackthorn or hawthorn. Clutches usually contain four to five eggs.