The blackcap is a large, robust warbler with long wings and a short tail. It looks similar to the marsh tit and willow tit but can be distinguished from them by the lack of a black bib. It is a common visitor to gardens, particularly in winter when it will eat nuts and fat.
Blackcaps are preyed on by sparrowhawks, jays, and magpies, while squirrels will take their eggs and young. It is occasionally used as a host by the cuckoo, but the eggs are often rejected as it has adapted well to spotting the intruder’s eggs.
Breeding birds: 1,200,000 territories
Wintering birds: 3,000
The adult male blackcap has grey-brown upperparts with slightly darker wings and tail, while the underparts are pale grey. The head is pale grey with a glossy black cap, and the thin, straight bill is dark grey with a black upper ridge and tip. The eyes are dark brown with a dark grey eye-ring and white underneath, and the legs and feet are grey.
The female is similar but the upperparts are olive-brown, and the underparts are pale buff. The cap is reddish-brown, and the eye-ring is reddish brown above and white below.
The juvenile blackcap resembles the female, but the crown is duller and the eyes are dark grey.
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The blackcap breeds from mid-April to August and produces 2 broods a year. The nest is situated in low vegetation in dense foliage such as a shrub, bush, brambles, or a small tree.
The male builds the foundations of one or two nests, and when the female arrives she will either choose one of the nests to complete, or builds a new one from scratch. The nest is a loose cup-shaped structure made from twigs, grass, and rootlets, lined with finer grass and hair.
The blackcap lays 4-6 smooth, glossy, pale buff eggs, with darker brown markings which are incubated by both parents for 11-12 days. The chicks are also fed by both parents and they fledge at 10-14 days after hatching although their parents care for them for a further 2 or 3 weeks. They reach sexual maturity at 1 year.
During breeding season, the blackcap eat mostly insects which it picks from leaves and twigs. At other times it eats fruit and berries, swallowing smaller fruits whole, and pecking at the pulp of larger fruit.
During winter it ventures into gardens to eat from bird tables and feeders, in particular suet, fruit and bread. It can be very aggressive, puffing out its chest to appear larger, and asserting dominance over other birds.
Blackcaps are found across the UK in woodlands, parks, and gardens with plenty of trees and shrubs. Breeding birds arrive in April and May and leave in September and October. Some European blackcaps winter in the UK, mainly in England.
Blackcaps are sometimes referred to as northern nightingales because of their lovely song.
