18/101.
Acrocephalus schoenobaenus Sedge warbler
Location: Reedbeds on east side of Marton Mere, Blackpool.
Conditions: Warm sunshine, very light breeze, mid afternoon.
Photograph quality: 2-3.
Comments: Sedge, reed, and grasshopper warblers have returned to the reedbeds here in the last two or three weeks. All three have been seen more or less daily, but I knew photographing them would be very difficult. I got a shot of a reed warbler last summer - pure luck, as I was in a hide at the mere for just a few minutes before it came into view. I tried to see them a couple of days ago, but although they were noisily apparent, they never came out of hiding.
This time, conditions were even better - very pleasant to spend time standing , watching the reeds - and I didn't have to wait long before I saw small birds flitting across a gap between sections of dense stems. I couldn't be sure at the time what they were, although I got quite a few mediocre shots - but at home I've checked multiple sources and am confident the bird in these photographs is a sedge warbler. Note the very pale underside, dark back, some markings on the wing, and crucially, a pale supercilium, and dark stripe beneath. The sound they make is quite extraordinary.
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