Saturday, August 10, 2013 at 8:17AM Sylvia borin
Local summer resident but widely distributed especially in south-east. Bertram Lloyd heard them singing freely in north of the county 1921, 1925, 1926, and considered the species was probably more numerous than the Blackcap. On islands scarce passage migrant, chiefly in spring.
R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society
Friday, June 29, 2012 at 6:07PM Surely it was this summer visitor that inspired the acronym LBJ (little brown job). It does however possess a pleasant mellow warbling song, though its critics often refer to this as being like a “garbled Blackcap”. It nests low down in shrubs and trees around woodland edge, rides and glades.
The 2003-07 survey found a marked absence in the extreme south compared to the 1984-88 presence. Nonetheless the totals registered for each of the two surveys was identical. The abundance map in the 1988-91 National Atlas indicates near maximum density in Pembrokeshire, which suggests the 1988 county estimate of 2,000 pairs was realistic. Since then the BTO has used a number of survey methods to conclude that although there have been short term fluctuations in the population, there has been a shallow long term decline. The BBS quantifies this as a 25% decrease in Wales between 1994 and 2007, which suggests the Pembrokeshire population had dropped to about 1,500 pairs by 2007.
Graham Rees
Fieldwork 2003-07 (based on 490 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 14
Orange = breeding probable = 163
Yellow = breeding possible = 16
Total tetrads in which registered = 193 (39.4%)
Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 11:01AM Breeding summer visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded in January, March and December
Mathew (1894) found the Garden Warbler to be a scarce summer visitor, whereas Lockley et al. (1949) considered it widely distributed but local.
Today they breed commonly, their distribution showing a heavy bias towards the eastern half of the county (see map). An estimated average density of ten pairs per tetrad suggests a total breeding population of about 2,000 pairs. They arrive back on the breeding grounds from early May and become increasingly difficult to find from mid-August.
Up to ten Garden Warblers at a time occur on the islands and in scattered coastal areas from 23 April to 25 June, with occasional earlier birds from 6 April onwards, and again between 17 July and 28 October. They have been noted at the lantern of the Smalls lighthouse at night in May, August and September. Late birds were at Skokholm on 2 November 1968 and at Picton on 27 November 1977. A Garden Warbler seen at Pembroke on 28 February 1976 may well have overwintered, and another was trapped for ringing at Pwllcrochan in February 1992.
Fieldwork 1984-88 (based on 478 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 47
Orange = breeding probable = 133
Yellow = breeding possible = 13
Total tetrads in which registered = 193 (40.4%)
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 3:08PM 
Red = breeding confirmed
Orange = breeding probable
Yellow = breeding possible
Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 12:48PM Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"
