Sedge Warbler, Exminster Marsh, Devon

Spring and early Summer for me means the croaky repetitive notes of the Reed and Sedge Warblers singing from the reed beds and adjoining hedgerows on Exminster Marshes. When I first heard them I struggled to tell the difference, but after two summers of living alongside the marshes, I now know which one I'm listening to.

In July the singing has disappeared and is replaced with the tiny frog like croak of the newly fledged Sedge Warblers seeking out caterpillars and bugs in the tangled growth at the bottom of the drying ditches; and the lighter chattering of the young Reed Warblers catching flies and bugs higher up the reeds with their parents guiding them.

Today I was stopped in my tracks by a very confiding young Sedge Warbler who decided I was intruding on his and his sibling's territory.  I needed to be checked out, then told off! Not satisfied with shouting at me from the reeds, he took to a nearby post and continued the ticking off.  

After a few moments of kicking off, he decided not to bother with me any more and disappeared back into the tangled mass of grasses and brackish water in the bottom of the ditch.  He called to his sibling who had remained out of sight and undercover.  Her quieter croak was only just audible as she called back (I am assuming their sexes from their behaviour!)  

Eventually these little Sedge Warblers both got used to me, ignored my presence and carried on feasting themselves on the endless supply of caterpillars they seemed to have discovered in these ditches.  

Every now and then, they would reappear as if to show off their catches and let me take a few photos, before going under again.