Birdwatch: Savi’s warbler

A low, insistent buzzing emerged from the depths of the reedbed. A bird was singing; but it was so shy, and so secretive, that I never saw it. A bird so rare, that only a handful choose to breed in Britain each year. Yet now one had turned up in this hidden corner of the West Country.

Savi's warbler is, like the much commoner grasshopper warbler, a member of the genus Locustella. Literally meaning "little locust", this refers to these birds' buzzing, insect-like songs. Savi's warbler's specific name, luscinioides, means "like a nightingale", because of its plain, unmarked appearance.