A luscious locustella

Locustella warblers are fascinating birds, primarily because of their generally skulking habits and their 'reeling' songs. Locustella luscinioides, or Savi's Warbler, is no exception and it takes a tuned ear to differentiate its reeling song from that of Grasshopper Warbler. Kudos then to the guys that found the recent bird at our local RSPB reserve literally 10 km from my home. News broke on a Bank Holiday Monday when we were visiting family in N Wales but I wasn't to concerned as most singing birds tend to stay a few days at least. The last one I saw was in N Wales in 2019 where it was on territory from 14th June until 25th July. See  here for details on my sightings of that bird. I started getting concerned though when friends messaged me and said the weather the next day was going to be awful so decided to go that same evening once I'd dropped Jan off at home. 

It was very windy and showery when I arrived but armed with the advice not to stand near the 'reedbed screen' (where people were apt to congregate and chat making picking out the Savi's song above the wind even more difficult) I positioned myself about 50 m away and waited....and waited. Picking up a snatch of distant song I was happy enough that it was the Savi's but decided tio stay until the reserve closing time at 8 pm as there was supposed to be a break in the weather and the sun was supposed to shine for a short while. 

There weren't many people there when I arrived and they gradually drifted away until only Mark, Greg & I were left. Mark left and no sooner had he done so then the sun broke out and on cue the Savi's started singing & even gave a brief view as it flew across a channel in the reeds to sing from another hidden position! 

Luckily Mark was still at the car park and hurried straight back, sans coat, in time to hear it reeling away. I even managed a recording with my phone.

As closing time was fast approaching and it had begun to rain we left and headed for the car park and home. Another new species for my Cheshire list  - thats two already this spring! 

As far as I know there have been  3-4 previous records of Savi's Warbler in Cheshire with none since 1994 so this was a very welcome record for many county listers.