Urban birds at Hull. 50. Reed Warbler

 

The Reed Warbler deserves inclusion in the urban birds series, despite its retiring habits, always in the midst of reeds, rarely exposed: a bird that is hard to see. However, once you are familiar with the, rhythmic cadence of scratchy notes, each repeated several times and including occasional mimicry, a walk by any patch of reeds at the right time of the year is likely to reveal its presence, and if you are lucky, a sighting, as it sings from a perch in the middle of a reed stem. Reed Warblers are warm brown birds, with creamy underside and a light eye stripe and bright white throat that gleams when it sings. Both sexes look alike. It has a pointy bill and rounded tail. It is amusing to watch how deftly it moves in its element of vertical, tightly packed reed stems, siddling up and down like they are moon-walking.

7/05/2022. Beverley and Barmston Drain.

Status and Distribution in Hull

Reed Warblers are summer migrants, that usually arrive in the last week of April or first week of May and settle in their territories and sing right away. It is in these first days that they are easiest to spot, the new reeds still short and the old stems thinned by the winter. They are locally distributed, due to their restricted habitat requirements and breed on the fringing reedbeds along the river Hull north of Stoneferry, the Beverley and Barmston Drain and at Noddle Hill, and in the Humber reedbeds east of Hessle and by St Andrews Quay. Other small patches of reeds by ditches in the outskirts of the city are also likely to hold a pair. They usually produce two broods and most birds leave during September. During migration, they can turn up anywhere.

Beverley and Barmston Drain by Bridlington Avenue, 21/05/2023.

Beverley and Barmston Drain by Sculcoates, 21/04/2025.

Recently fledged Reed Warblers, still attended by parents, Beverley and Barmston Drain, 8/08/2022.

Conservation and management

Reed Warbler are Green Listed, as populations have increased over 40% in the last three decades. Their distribution range is also expanding north, having recently colonised southern Scotland, most likely benefiting from the warming climate. Increases appear to be due to more productivity, due to earlier egg laying, rather than better adult survival. Improved reedbed management may have also helped the species. An appreciation of the conservation value of urban reedbeds, which offers resources for a range of birds that feed chicks with insects, is likely to benefit this and other urban species.

More information

Broughton, R.K. 2002 Birds of the Hull area.

BTO Birdfacts. Reed Warbler.