uk overwintering garden warbler? (1 Viewer)

I heard what to my ears was a garden warbler singing in Sherborne, Dorset. That continuous babbling sound, coming from a thick hedgr and I couldn't see the bird. Do they overwinter?

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

Blackcaps overwinter (although they are from the German breeding population) and have a similar song; in my opinion this would be a more likely explanation, but, with birds, few things are impossible.

 

[jogresh]

Also worth mentioning that many songbirds sometimes use subsong, which is often longer than the normal phrases.

 

[Nick J]

There certainly are blackcaps around but my experience is their song is short, this was a continuous song for a minute maybe

 

[Welsh Peregrine]

“Winter records are not unknown”, but I am struggling to find a reliably documented February one...

 

[Mike Crawley]

I’ve had a male Blackcap my Stockport garden on and off since late Autumn.
Haven’t heard him singing yet this year

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi Nick and a warm welcome to you from those of us on BirdForum 👍

 

[jogresh]

There certainly are blackcaps around but my experience is their song is short, this was a continuous song for a minute maybe

Yes, subsong is often more of a continuous subdued warble. My guess would be a subsinging Blackcap, I've heard overwintering birds starting to tune up in Feb.

 

[Steve Lister]

Garden Warblers do winter but only rarely. This bird is much more likely to be a Blackcap indulging in a bit of early subsong - the male wintering around my area started yesterday and had moved on to almost full song in the sun today.

 

[KeithjamesB]

A blackcap has been singing every morning in my garden since a week ago. As confirmed by my birdsong app. Never noticed it in previous years this early.