The adult male barred warbler has steel-grey upperparts with white fringes on the wing coverts, forming a double wingbar, and white-edged tail feathers. Its underparts are pale grey with dark barring. The face is dark grey, with yellow eyes, a black bill with a pale base, and grey-brown legs and feet. The female is similar but paler, with grey-brown upperparts and less distinct barring on the underparts.
Its song is a harsh, chattering call, resembling that of the garden warbler but less melodic. It often sings from exposed perches.
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Barred warblers are primarily insectivorous, feeding on beetles, ants, flies, and other invertebrates. However, in autumn and winter, they also eat fruit and berries, particularly blackberries and elderberries.
They forage mainly in bushes close to the ground or in the canopy of small trees, picking prey from branches and foliage while perched. Unlike some other warblers, they rarely catch insects in flight.
The barred warbler breeds across central and eastern Europe, as well as western and central Asia. It inhabits open deciduous and mixed forests, woodlands, plantations, parks, and gardens. It is also found in scrubby areas and grasslands with hedgerows and scattered trees and shrubs.
A strong migrant, it travels south for the winter to tropical eastern Africa. In Britain, it is regularly spotted along the east coast during autumn migration but is much rarer in spring.
