blackcap

Sylvia atricapilla

• The male of this widespread species has a distinctive black ‘cap’ on his head
   
• The female’s cap is rusty coloured
   
• Both have grey and brown plumage

The varied, warbling song is one of the best birdsongs of summer - click on the recording below to listen:

Where found

Blackcaps are hard to spot, flitting about in undergrowth in woodland, parks and gardens.

When to look for

• A summer visitor from March or April
   
• Increasingly overwintering in southern counties

Fabulous blackcap facts

• The delightful fluting song of the Blackcap has earned it the name 'northern nightingale'
  
  
• The RSPB estimates that around 3000 blackcaps overwinter in the UK
  
  
• Blackcaps from Germany and north-east Europe are increasingly spending the winter in the UK
  
  
• In the 1940s there were only about 20 reports per year of Blackcaps wintering in the UK
  
  
• The blackcap is known in Greece as ampelourgos or 'bird of the vinyards'
  
  
• It has been considered a culinary delicacy in Cyprus since the Middle Ages