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frequently fly from the reeds to perch on a telegraph pole
to sing and display. One pair of the larger, less pretty,
but more specialized reed warblers also nested in the reeds.
The hedge, bushes, willow scrub and few trees on the Feering
side of the riuer hold one pair each of common and lesser
Whitethroats, chaffinches and one or more pairs of gold-
finches, greenfinches, tree sparrows, yellowhammers, song
thrushes, blackbird, robin, dunnock, wren, wood pigeon,
turtle dove, pheasant, red-legged partridge, skylark and jay.
Host of the denizens of the reed-bed proper are insectivorous
birds, feeding on the wealth of mainly flying insects, many
of which spend most of their lives as aquatic nymphs.
The cricket-bat willow planation held what is really a cross
between reed-marsh and woodland birds; some living in the
trees and others in the dykes, reeds, sedges and tall
grasses growing beneath them. The birds here too, are
mostly insectivores and include a pair of aerial acrobats,
spotted fly-catcher. There are also two pairs of common
Whitethroats, two + pairs of sedge warblers, three + pairs
of willow warblers and one pair each of blackcaps, blue tits,
great tit and finally marsh tits. Despite the name, the
latter are not marsh birds, but nest in existing holes in
trees, unlike the willow tit, which closely resembles the
marsh tit, but excavates its own nest hole in rotting trees.
Willow tits have not appeared on the marsh, but I have
frequently heard them in other parts of the parish.
Chaffinches, greenfinches, robins, blackbirds, song-thrush,
dunnock, wren, pheasant, yellowhammer, wood pigeon, turtle
dove, cuckoo, possibly carrion crows and, surprisingly, tree
creepers are the other denizens of the willow plantation.
In the summer, swifts, house martins and swallows feast on
the prolific insect life over the reed-bed and river and,
as the sun sets, these are replaced by bats of at least
three species: Daubentons, Pippistrelle and Noctule. Other
non-breeding birds of the area include Corn Buntings, which
held territory in the early spring, but didn't stay to breed
and long-tailed tits which also failed to nest. At the end
of March, the willow plantation echoed to the chimes of
numerous chiff-chaffs, but they too moved on. However, one
pair did nest adjacent to the study area in a stand of old
beech trees.