Chiffchaff on Migration?

I noticed a small bird hopping about and doing aerial acrobatics catching insects in our back garden this morning and it turned out to be a beautiful little Chiffchaff.

There are a few others in the hedgerows opposite today, so maybe they've had enough of the colder-than-average September weather and are heading south to their wintering grounds in the Mediterranean and western Africa.

We know some birds stay in the UK all winter as we've seen them particularly near rivers (Dinton Pastures by the River Loddon  being one place), where they feed off insects even when there is snow and ice on the ground.

Chiffchaffs are one of my favourite birds and have a wonderful soft yellow colour and are great to watch darting about. They can be confused with other small warblers, but you can distinguish a Chiffchaff by the "chiff-chaff" song which gives the bird its name and by it's black legs. Please write a comment to correct me on that if I am wrong!