Introduced by Peter Scott.
The cock reed warbler returns from his winter migration in May, a week or more before the hen, and lays claim to his territory, chasing off other cocks and singing to attract a mate. When she arrives the hen gathers her material and builds her nest. Some days later she begins to lay.
In a film made at Minsmere Reserve in Suffolk under the auspices of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Christopher Mylne has obtained many intimate shots of their breeding story.