Sedge warblers have an olive-brown mantle and scapulars with dark brown streaks, and a cinnamon rump. On the upperwing the flight feathers are brown with pale buff edges, and the wing coverts are black with paler edges. The rounded tail is dark brown.

The belly is white, the flanks are pale rust and the rest of the underparts are cream or pale buff.

They are monogamous and breed between late April and mid-May and produce 1 or 2 broods a season. The nest in scrubby vegetation, marshes, bushes, and reedbeds near but not on water.

The nest is usually supported on stems. The female builds the nest which is a deep cup-shaped structure made from loosely woven grass, stems, leaves, moss, and sedges, bound together with spider webs. It is lined with softer plant material, hair, and plant down.

5-6 smooth, glossy, pale green eggs even covered with fine olive specks and mottles, are incubated by the female alone for 13-15 days. The male will help brood the chicks once they are hatched. Chicks leave the nest 11-12 days after hatching and fledge at 25-30 days. (Extract taken from Bird Spot)

It is a medium-sized warbler of marshes, reedbeds and wetlands and can be spotted singing from perches on reeds and willow bushes.

A great mimic, the male sedge warbler introduces random phrases into its repertoire, never singing the same song twice; he attracts more mates the more phrases his song has.

They are summer visitors to the UK, breeding in wetland habitats from April onwards.e. (Extract taken from the Wildlife Trusts UK)

All photographs by CRUSH Photography©

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