Poll results

Thanks to all 5 of you for voting in the poll. I can now exclusively reveal the results... (drumroll)

In last place come 60 per cent of you (sounds better than 3) who thought that the top photo was a Reed Warbler and the lower photo a Marsh Warbler. SHAME ON YOU!!!

The winners (all 2 of you) correctly identified the top photo as a Marsh Warbler and the lower photo as a Reed Warbler. Well done.

It really wasn't easy as features such as primary projection, bill structure and length etc were difficult to compare given the angles of the photos. However, one feature is fairly obvious - the eye ring. Marsh tends to have a full pale eye-ring in spring which can clearly be seen on the top photo. Reed, although sometimes appearing to have a pale eye-ring, if you look closely you can see that the pale ring is only really pale under the eye. Marsh also tends to look a creamy colour on the breast and underparts with Reed a more brownish white. Very difficult to see and photos can mislead, depending on light conditions. This spring I have also noticed that the tail of Reed Warbler slightly tapers towards the end with Marsh being more square-ish. Not sure if this is a recognised feature or maybe just individual variation (my sample size is not huge). I will try to study more of them in the next few weeks...

Anyway, thanks for voting!