Most bird books will tell you that the easiest way to tell a Chiffchaff from a Willow Warbler is by the leg colour. Chiffchaffs have dark legs and Willow Warblers pale. Which should make this pale-legged bird a Willow Warbler. But it isn't. It's a Chiffchaff, and was singing "chiff-chaff-chiff-chaff" to confirm its identity. The plumage is rather brown and it looks quite sullied on the underparts, which point to Chiffchaff, as does that noticeable white half-crescent below the eye. But if I had simply taken a photograph and I had not heard it sing, I think I might have passed this one off as Willow Warbler. I took the photograph this afternoon near Oulton in West Yorkshire.
For comparison I have pasted a Willow Warbler in the comments where you can see the similarity in leg colour. But you can also see that Willow Warbler is cleaner and greener.
Incidentally the scientific name of Chiffchaff is Phylloscopus collybita. Phylloscopus means leaf-gleaner, but collybita means money counter, because the chiff-chaff song sounds like someone counting coins off a table top.
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