Desperately seeking sedge warblers

Tipped off by Tim that a sedge warbler had turned up and was in full song, I took a look on Sunday morning, hoping to get a picture as they are much less skulking than reed warblers. I did get a few good views, but no pictures, so I went back this evening. There are now two males singing, and they seem to be competing amongst themselves and a reed warbler. When you hear the two species together there is no mistaking them, but they can be a bit tricky to identify in isolation.

Anyway, these two birds are going at it full tilt at the moment, and well worth a visit. With our other reedbed signature species the reed bunting also singing constantly, it's a great time to hear all three together. I like to think it's testament to the quality of the management of the reedbed that we've had such success this year. Anyway, I did manage to get a couple of fuzzy shots, one of which has caught the bird singing. Not great, but they'll do until I get a better one.

Although I didn't get any joy with the sedges on Sunday, I did find an obliging ringlet: I suspect it was dying, as it was nowhere near as active as they usually are, but it did at least mean I could get a good shot with its wings open.

On Saturday John Dowland and I attended the Natural Neighbours conference in King's Lynn, organised by the BTCV. It was an excellent event, interesting throughout, and we made some useful contacts. Along with several other organisations, we gave a short presentation about our patch, and the remarks afterwards indicated that a few more people had understood what a special little spot this is.