The warm spring days when Great Reed Warblers (above) and Yellow Wagtails (below) dominated the aquatic vegetation of south-western Iberia are a distant memory. These birds are now somewhere in tropical Africa, south of the Sahara...
but the bullrushes (above) and reeds (below) continue to provide cover and food for other birds...
Cetti's Warblers (above and below) lead the line of skulkers that can go by undetected if we are not patient and careful. These warblers were there alongside the Great Reed Warblers in the spring but manage to hang on and find sufficient food throughout the winter...
the males (below) are equally hard to pick up but when they show themselves they are stunning...
from above, even the males look cryptic...
which is not a bad thing seeing the predators that patrol the swamp...
Marsh Harrier
Buzzard
Barn Owl
other migrants and local birds also focus on the reeds and its insects. These include Chiffchaffs (above) now in bid numbers and Stonechats (below) which use the reeds as hunting perches.
...but the star of the show has to be the Bluethroat
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