Finally made the effort today to visit Straws Bridge NR to look for the Great Reed Warbler. Arrived at 0815 and like Pete and Mike could hear it before we got a brief view of it sitting on top of the reeds. We could then hear it chunnering away in the reeds. It appeared a couple of times during the morning but didn't get any further decent sightings until much later, about 11.45 when it came out of the reeds three more times with the last appearance giving really good prolonged views. A real character and a life time first for me

Saw the bird on Thursday evening and heard it long before I got near the second pool. Amazing voice, very striking and large bird and what a character. It is without doubt the best bird I have seen this year and it was a wrench to leave the place. It's also curious that it has ended up in a small patch of phragmites in the corner of what is essentially a duck pond!

The singing can be heard here:

http://www.xeno-canto.org/europe/species.php?query=sp:6557.00

-- Edited by Mike Baron on Saturday 22nd of May 2010 07:31:03 AM

Arrived today at 1.30pm en -route to a weekend in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk and was immediately treated with fantastic views of the Great Reed Warbler singing away. What a bird and a great start to the trip!

After being fascinated by the sound and size of watching some youtube footage of Great Reed Warblers I took a very early morning detour to Ilkeston today and had brilliant views in the sunshine as the bird moved around the reed bed it is frequenting. To see a thrush sized warbler was very interesting and I heard it from 100m away!