Blackcap

All photo`s digiscoped using Canon Powershot A640 and Kowa TSN-883 x30

This male Blackcap was perched in the open on one of my visits to Maxey GP on Saturday morning. He was heard singing, but when the camera went on him he seemed to go quiet.

The Blackcap is another visitor to our shores during the summer months, although they are increasingly over-wintering in Britain, especially in the south of the country.

They are slightly smaller than a House Sparrow, but one of the larger warblers. The male (shown in the photo`s) has grey-brown upperparts, grey underparts and a black crown and forehead which extends to the level of the eye. The female is browner with a brown cap. First winter birds are like a duller version of the female.

Blackcaps are widely distributed throughout the British Isles and tend to be found in deciduous or mixed woodland, copses, thickets and also in mature gardens and parks. There are over 590,000 territories in the U.K., a number that has increased since the late 1970`s as the species has moved northwards.