A quite large, long-tailed warbler of low bushy vegetation, with a puffy throat and large head; white tail sides, greyer head, white throat, rusty wings, and pale legs are distinctive.

In its breeding range, the Whitethroat likes dry heaths, the edges of woods and the fringes of fields where there are patches of rough ground. Poorly maintained hedgerows with gaps and overgrown ditches with nettles and willowherb are ideal. They occupy what is too often described as ‘waste’ or derelict ground: the kind of habitat that develops around an old gravel pit or along a railway cutting, with a few tall trees but mostly low, bushy thickets scattered over open ground. And most of all, they enjoy a dense, thorny, food-rich bramble patch.