Friday, August 9, 2013 at 7:45AM Locustella naevia naevi
Local summer visitor, recorded at St David's, Solva, Haverfordwest, Goodwick, Dinas, Tenby marsh, Casltemartin Corse, Amroth, Clynderwen, Gwaen Valley, and Teifi mouth. Scarce passage migrant on islands in spring; but only once recorded there in autumn.
R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society
Sunday, May 13, 2012 at 6:07PM Interpretation of the comparative results of the two surveys is difficult. Young conifer plantations occupied during the earlier survey had matured to a state of unsuitability by the latter one. The BBS found an increase, on a UK national basis, of 68% since 1994 and by 24% between 2006 and 2007. This may have been in response to favourable conditions at their African wintering grounds resulting in increased survival.
The 1988-91 National Atlas indicated maximum abundance in Pembrokeshire, so it seems safe to apply the UK wide BBS figure to the county plot. This being so, there were probably 480 – 670 pairs breeding in Pembrokeshire at the end of 2007, compared with an estimated 400 pairs in 1988.
Graham Rees
Fieldwork 2003-07 (based on 490 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 2
Orange = breeding probable = 83
Yellow = breeding possible = 11
Total tetrads in which registered = 96 (19.6%)
Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 9:52AM Breeding summer visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from December to March
The Grasshopper Warbler was a summer visitor with a local breeding distribution to both Mathew (1894) and Lockley et al. (1949), the latter noting that it was a scarce passage migrant on the islands in spring but had only once been recorded in autumn.
Now they are regular in spring between 7 April and early June, sometimes occurring in considerable numbers on the headlands. They sing from cover but also from exposed perches, and up to 40 have been recorded in a day at Skokholm.
Grasshopper Warblers are still locally distributed (see map), occupying patches of rank growth such as fen, common and scrubby grassland, a commodity that has diminished during the years with the development of intensive farming. They also nest in young conifer plantations including those at Wiston Wood and Pantmaenog Forest. The number occupying suitable habitat varies according to how they fare on migration and in their sub-Saharan winter quarters. On the evidence found during the Breeding Birds Survey of 1984-1988 an average density of four pairs per tetrad, based on singing birds, suggests a total population in Pembrokeshire of 400 pairs. However, this is almost certainly an underestimate.
Grasshopper Warblers are less numerous in autumn than they are in spring, with small numbers passing through coastal areas between 27 July and 21 October. One was recorded at Skokholm on 7 November 1968.
Fieldwork 1984-88 (based on 478 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 8
Orange = breeding probable = 70
Yellow = breeding possible = 11
Total tetrads in which registered = 89 (18.6%)
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 12:58PM 
Red = breeding confirmed
Orange = breeding probable
Yellow = breeding possible
Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 1:03PM Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"
