Saturday, August 10, 2013 at 8:15AM Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
Numerous summer resident in almost every reedy, sedgy cover. Regular on passage on the islands and has bred Skomer and Skokholm.
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 6:02PM The Sedge Warbler is a small, chubby warbler with brown upperparts streaked black, creamy white underparts and a broad cream stripe above the eye. Its varied chattering song is often delivered whilst it is perched in full view or in its song–flight. It is to be found mostly in damp places like reedbeds, bogs and around ponds. Its nest is placed in bushes or tall vegetation, near or on the ground. It is a summer visitor.
The UK population level has varied considerably over the years, affected mainly by varying rainfall in its winter quarters in West Africa. Analysis of various data sets gathered by the BTO shows year to year fluctuations, with similar levels of population in the UK in the years 1988 and 2007, which is relevant to the two local surveys. The 2003-07 survey results show an almost 10% increase compared with those of 1984-88.This suggests that about 700 pairs were nesting in Pembrokeshire at the end of 2007, compared to 650 pairs in 1988.
Graham Rees
Fieldwork 2003-07 (based on 490 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 27
Orange = breeding probable = 109
Yellow = breeding possible = 11
Total tetrads in which registered = 147 (30%)
Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 9:57AM Breeding summer visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded from November to February
Mathew (1894) considered the Sedge Warbler to be the second most numerous, after the Chiffchaff, of the warblers to visit Pembrokeshire. Lockley et al. (1949) stated that it was a "numerous summer resident in almost every reedy, sedgy cover". Lloyd's detailed diaries for 1925-1935 recorded Sedge Warblers in localities where they are now absent, the habitat having become unsuitable. Lockley (1957) stated that "they can be found singing in every overgrown water ditch". Sedge Warblers are less numerous in Pembrokeshire today, the Breeding Birds Survey of 1984-1988 finding them to be locally distributed. Most were found in reedbeds and other marshy areas but some were breeding in completely dry scrubby places, including pairs at Haverfordwest Golf Course, around Mathry and along parts of the coastal path. Numbers vary from year to year, depending on how they survive the rigours of migration and the conditions they encounter at their wintering grounds south of the Sahara. They were noticeably less numerous during the first two years of the survey than in the latter three. By the end of this period there were estimated to be about 650 pairs breeding in Pembrokeshire. This is based upon individual assessments at some of the larger marshes plus an estimated average density of four pairs per tetrad elsewhere.
Sedge Warblers generally appear in Pembrokeshire in the second half of April, with occasional birds in the vanguard from 6 April. One was at Tenby Marsh on 25 March 1964. They continue to pass until about 9 June, and occur in most coastal areas, with occasional notable falls such as the 250 birds seen at Skokholm in May 1953.
Return passage is spread between July and 17 October, though one was recorded at Skomer on 29 October 1963. Usually ones and twos are seen in coastal areas, with occasional falls of 20 or so, although up to 100 were recorded at Skokholm in August during the 1940s.
Fieldwork 1984-88 (based on 478 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 30
Orange = breeding probable = 91
Yellow = breeding possible = 13
Total tetrads in which registered = 134 (28%)
Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 3:12PM 
Red = breeding confirmed
Orange = breeding probable
Yellow = breeding possible
Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 1:01PM Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"
