Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus
Breeding distribution change
Common and increasing summer visitor; breeds Europe, winters Africa
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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2013
Atlas species lists
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More Reed Warbler maps
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More maps for this atlas
Map explanation
This map shows where changes occurred in the breeding season distribution of the species in Wiltshire between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, as revealed by the fieldwork for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007) and the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.
Gains and improvements
Status
Nos tetrads
Absent to present
46
5%
Present to breeding
9
1%
Absent to breeding
20
2%
No change
Status
Nos tetrads
Present in both
5
1%
Breeding in both
34
4%
Losses and declines
Status
Nos tetrads
Present to absent
23
3%
Breeding to present
14
2%
Breeding to absent
10
1%
European Reed Warblers breed from northwest Africa, across Europe to southern Finland, Russia and western Anatolia. They winter in sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal. east to the Red Sea and south to at least Zambia.
In Britain at the end of the 19th century they were breeding in much of Wales and in England from Cornwall to Lacashire and Yorkshire. Since then their range has been expanding northwards in increasing numbers: Bird Atlas 2007-2017 recorded little apparent change in the first half of the 20th century but numbers more than doubling in the last 40 years of the century and increasing by a further 35% between 1995 and 2010.
In Wiltshire in the first half of the 20th century Reed Warblers were reckoned to be not uncommon though certainly much less common than Sedge Warblers, a difference that persisted to the end of the century. Unsurprisingly, the main concentrations are along the valleys of the Thames, both Avons and the Kennet, plus on the Kennet & Avon Canal and at the CWP and Coate Water. Birds of Wiltshire recorded them in 96 tetrads, with breeding in 58. WTA2 found them in 128 tetrads with breeding in 63.
References
The following references are used throughout these species’ accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
“1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976: The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986: The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
“Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007: Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
“Bird Atlas 2007-2011”-– Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: The Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland. BTO Books.
“WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.