The Lesser Whitethroat has been common this spring on migration with birds being seen every trip in the region. Numbers appear to be higher than normal on migration although wintering numbers were no different to previous years. They breed from Western Europe to northern China and winter south of these areas in the Sahel region and north-eastern Africa through Arabia to India and Sri Lanka. In Saudi Arabia they are a common passage migrant and winter visitor occurring in overgrown scrub, trees and small thickets with dense undergrowth. Over winter it is normally seen in acacia. Ringing studies near Riyadh have shown that these birds often spend the winter in the same group of trees in consecutive years.
