Chiffchaff Arriving

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned observing a Chiffchaff that had been sighted on more than one occasion on my Lockdown walk adjacent to a bridge. 

This would have been a resident bird that remained during Winter.

I have visited the bridge this week and there is still a Chiffchaff there, most likely the one I have seen before. However, he has now been joined by four more Chiffchaff that are most likely returning migrants from their Winter holidays in warmer climes.

Resident Bird

Below are two of the returning birds mentioned. You can observe the dark crusts above their beaks, which from what I have read in the past is due to eating fruit en route during their return migration. 

Perched at the side of the river, all the birds spent most of their time flying out over the water catching insects, mostly Mayflies.

In this sequence of shots below you can just see the mayfly as its being pursued and caught by the Chiffchaff.

In the shots below you can clearly see the fruit crust above the birds beak.