- Sylvia undata
Identification
Breeds in southern England, the Channel Is and Brittany, in western France and on the Mediterranean coast and throughout Iberia. Also breeds on Menorca, on Corsica and Sardinia, southern Italy and north-east Sicily and in coastal North Africa, mainly Morocco and Algeria; possibly also Tunisia.
Britain lies on the northern edge of this species' range and it occurs only in southern England with the bulk of the population found from Dorset to Sussex with snmall numbers in Devon and Cornwall and on the Isle of Wight. Some wandering may occur in winter when occasional birds are seen as far afield as East Anglia.
Mainly resident but some birds, mainly juveniles, wander in winter and range expands in the south of range, especially on Balearics, Malta, Sicily and in North Africa.
Vagrants recorded in Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden, and east to Greece and the former Yugoslavia, also in Libya.
Subspecies Nominate race undata is found in north-east Spain, southern France, Italy and the Mediterranean islands, has slate-grey mantle, dartfordiensis found in Britain, western France and northern Iberia has dark brown mantle. Palest race is toni from southern Iberia and North Africa, greyish-brown above and paler and duller below.
Habitat In north of range found on open heathland with abundant gorse to provide cover, further south in dense thorny scrub and maquis, sometimes in open pinewoods.
