Loud Songster of the Reedbed

Though a rarity in aviculture, the reed warbler is a native softbill with bags of character that would repay study in private collections, says BILL NAYLOR, and urges fanciers to follow the late Frank Meaden’s pioneering success.

- Bill Naylor

THE reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) has been called our plainest brownest warbler. It’s certainly drab when compared to typical warblers like the blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), whitethroat (S. communis) and the willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) – the UK’s most common warbler.

The reed warbler shares the genus Acrocephalus with more than 30 similar species. It has evolved mousy brown plumage for good reason, for it spends all of its life among one type of vegetation: reed beds. And like bitterns and bearded tits (Panurus biarmicus) it prefers specifically the long-stemmed feathery fronds of Phragmites reeds.

It is a late summer visitor and arrives in the UK in April or May from its winter stay in Africa. This species sets up home in reed beds, mainly in central and southern areas with a concentration in East Anglia. Its specific name scirpaceus means “reed,” and the country names of marsh reedling, fen reedling, rush warbler and water sparrow aptly describe this elusive bird that rarely strays outside of the reed thickets.

Before the revision of the warbler family Sylviidae, there were nearly as many warblers as there are parrot species. Warblers have always fallen under the radar. Even among birders and ornithologists, warblers are often considered hard work. Many are so similar that even in the hand they are difficult to identify. All of the 14 breeding British species can be confused. Before the pioneering discoveries of naturalist Gilbert White, the willow warbler (known then as the willow wren) was considered to be the same species as the wood warbler (P. sibilatrix) and chiffchaff (P. collybita). White also discovered that the sedge (A. schoenobaenus) and reed warbler were two different species. But people still have trouble telling them apart.