When do willow warblers arrive in and leave the UK?

A summer visitor in the records: sightings rise sharply from late March, are near their peak by early April, and fall away after mid September.

When do willow warblers arrive in the UK?

In the GBIF records, UK sightings of the willow warbler rise sharply from late March and are near their peak by early April.

When do willow warblers leave the UK?

UK sightings fall away after mid September.

Where do willow warblers go in winter?

From December to February the strongest signal in the effort-adjusted GBIF records is around Zimbabwe and Botswana. The globe shows the whole winter range month by month.

Willow warbler in the UK, month by month

Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY 4.0 only), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 219,894 UK records (occurrence search API, country=GB, weekly). Dates come from sightings, not a survey, so treat them as a guide.

See the willow warbler migration on the 3D globe →

About the willow warbler

The willow warbler is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strongly migratory, with almost all of the population wintering in sub-Saharan Africa.

From the Wikipedia article “Willow warbler” (revision 1361144628), CC BY-SA 4.0, shortened at a sentence end. Winter/summer areas: country containing the monthly hotspot of effort-adjusted GBIF records, using Natural Earth boundaries (public domain).

Other UK summer visitors: see the full list with arrival and departure dates.