Three bird visits to Frensham (7.30 am first Tuesday April-June) focused on warblers. By sight & sound we identified 8 species - 2 leaf-warblers (Phylloscopus), 4 scrub-warblers (Sylvia), 2 ‘reed-warblers’ (Acrocephalus) - each in its preferred nesting habitat: closed canopy woodland with thick undergrowth (Blackcap), woodland edge (Chiffchaff & Garden Warbler), scrub (Willow Warbler & Whitethroat), heather & gorse (Dartford Warbler), lakeside herbs (Reed & Sedge Warblers).
The breeding communities which these warblers belong to comprised five allied families (nuthatch, tree-creeper & wren, tit, martin, kinglet), less-closely related passerines (thrushes, ‘finch-like’ birds & crows) and non-passerines, one of which, the Cuckoo, locally parasitizes Reed Warblers.

With 13 species in five genera, warblers are the most diverse family of perching birds (passerines) breeding regularly in southern England. We learned the preferred nesting habitat also of the 5 species not found at Frensham: closed canopy woodland with sparse undergrowth (Wood Warbler eg at Hindhead), hedgerows (Lesser Whitethroat eg at Thursley), rank meadowland (Marsh Warbler only in Kent), coastal scrub (Cetti’s Warbler Cettia cetti) & damp meadow with bushes (Grasshopper Warbler Locustella naevia).

We also read about the breeding distribution and migration of European warblers; noting that Cetti’s & the spider-hunting Dartford Warbler are the only permanent residents in UK.