We know spring is imminent where I live in the Bannau Brycheiniog not just from the growing warmth of the sun throughout the day, but because of the return of the familiar, high-pitched refrain of “a little bit of bread and no cheese’ whistling around the hills. It is, of course, the call of the Yellowhammer – Melyn yr Eithin in Welsh – and it’s a song to brighten any day.
It’s all about Chiffchaff (Siff-Siaff in Welsh) in my little corner of the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons national park) at the moment. Their noisy onomatopoeiac chiff-chaff call dominates the hedgerow airwaves, relegating the robins and blackbirds that have kept singing all winter to the sidelines. This is as it should be, Siff-Siaff is one of the first migrants to arrive back in Britain and start singing and is, thus, a reliable indicator that spring is really here.
markontour 