Peatland wildlife

Sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)

Sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)

Description

The sedge warbler is a small migrant from Southern Europe and North Africa between April and August. It nests largely in marshy scrub, fens and reedbeds, but is also found along small rivers and ditches with dense vegetation.

Is is one of the most easily recognised of the five warbler species in Northern Ireland with its heavily black-streaked head, olive-brown upper body, conspicuous cream eyestripe, white throat and rufous flanks. The sexes are alike but juveniles have yellowish underparts and brown spots on the breast.

Behaviour

Although widespread, sedge warblers are normally quite difficult to spot, as they tend to hide in dense vegetation, flying low and direct between cover. Their song is a continuous variation of harsh chattering and musical notes mixed with mimicry of other birds' songs, occasionally singing through the night.

Breeding

During courtship the male flies vertically upwards while singing and descends again with wings and tail fanned out. The nest is an untidy cup of grasses and leaves built low to the ground in dense vegetation. The female lays five or six greenish, heavily speckled eggs in April-May, which hatch after two weeks. Both parents feed the young on a diet of small insects and spiders.

Status

In Northern Ireland the Wildlife Order states that it is an offence to kill, injure, capture or keep (alive or dead) any wild bird, including the sedge warbler. It is also an offence to destroy, damage or take the nest of any wild bird or to sell or advertise for sale the eggs of any wild bird.