The past couple of days has seen the first few reed and sedge warblers arriving from their African wintering grounds and very welcome they are too. Still relatively few in number their songs are lacking the conviction that characterises their species, but in a few weeks - as the trickle of arrivals becomes a flood - the reedbeds will become alive with their jittery, reeling, interminable songs - two of the more evocative sounds of our summer.
Sedge warbler above and reed warbler below, both pictures courtesy of our volunteer Edward Flatters.
These two tiny birds well illustrate the miracle of bird migration - travelling thousands of miles in search of year round summer, or more particularly year round insects. Their fortitude must be formidable and powers of navigation staggering. This is well illustrated by the story of two reed warblers which we ringed here on the same day and re-captured together in exactly the same few square metres of reed 12 months later. The amount of living they had each crammed into those 12 months doesn't need spelling out... but I will anyway!
Pairing-up, then building their exquisitely woven nest in which they raise one or two broods – necessitating the capture of many thousands of insects - before crossing the Channel, Europe, the Mediterranean and then south to sub-Saharan Africa. They then have to conquer the ever increasing, manifold threats in their 'wintering' grounds before reversing the whole process to begin again.
Papillion may be a great story of human endeavour and resolve in the face of adversity at every turn, but Henri Charrière couldn't hold a candle to our Acrocephalus warblers. It is no wonder that we welcome them back!