What they like

Scrubby thickets with ragged edges. Hedges, young copses, messy corners, watersides. Anything where insects can spring out of the shadows. Don’t keep your garden tidy everywhere: a rough corner with nettles and brambles is gold. Plant hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel and elder. In parks and yards: keep hedges broad and tall, prune only after summer. In the countryside: leave hedgerows and shelterbelts, and give ditch banks a strip of herbs.

Ecological importance

An insect-eater through and through. Spiders, midges, flies, small caterpillars — they’re all dinner. The chiffchaff itself is food for sparrowhawk and hobby. More chiffchaffs starts with more insects. So: flowers from early to late, and leave the leaves lying until spring.

When in the Netherlands

March through October. In mild winters one sometimes lingers.

Status

Common. Doing well, but still dependent on insect-rich spots.