Breeding birds: 370-5003,200 pairs
Dartford warblers are small birds with short wings and long tails. Male Dartford warblers have dark grey-brown upper parts with brown wings. The tail is dark brown edged with grey and white and their heads are grey. Underparts are rust coloured, bellies are white and they have white spots on the chin and throat.
Dartford warblers have thin black bills with a pinky yellow base. Their eyes are dark orange with red eye-rings and their legs and feet are bright orange.
Female Dartford warblers are similar but with duller, browner plumage and their underparts are pink coloured with less visible white spots.
Juvenile Dartford warblers look like adult females with paler underparts and white belly.
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Male Dartford warblers build several nests which are close to the ground and fairly flimsy structures made from dried grasses, moss, wool and spider webs. The interior is lined with softer materials such as wool, grass and feathers.
Dartford warblers lay 3 or 4 pale green or white eggs with darker spots. The eggs are incubated by the female for 12-13 days and chicks leave the nest 12-13 days after hatching.
Dartford warblers eat mainly insects but in the winter will also feed on spiders seeds and berries.
Dartford warblers can be spotted all year round in south west and south east England. They can be found in dry habitats such as lowland heathland among gorse and heather
Britain's Birds
RSPB Handbook Of British Birds
Collins Bird Guide
Dartford warblers were first described in Bexleyheath, near Dartford, Kent in 1773, but have not been seen in this area since the early 20th century.
One Response
A pair are regular visitors to the back of our garden late afternoons. Neglected for a few years there are scrubby bushes, low trees, and overgrown grasses. Very shy birds, they fly off at the slightest movement from us. This is the northern part of Southend on Sea, Essex. We have two large parks adjacent to us, and a little further north scrubby farmland long abandoned while awaiting development for housing (Fossets Way), then open country north of that.