What they like

Thick marsh edge. Reed, sedge, bulrush, damp scrub. Ditch banks with gentle slopes and messy nooks where nobody storms through every week. In a garden or park: a pond with a reed fringe and a strip you just leave alone. On farmyards and in agricultural areas: wet ditches, species-rich field margins and a winter water level that isn’t immediately drained away.

Ecological importance

Omnivore: insects, larvae, tiny snails, worms, carrion. Likes plant shoots and roots, but will also take a frog or a chick now and then. That shows the wetland is still functioning. Is itself eaten by raptors and mammals; a handy link in the marsh menu.

When in the Netherlands

A fairly scarce breeding bird. Present year-round, but you’ll usually hear it before you see it. Most of our breeding birds spend the winter further south, but their places are taken by birds from Northern and Eastern Europe.

Status

Rare and hidden. Locally present where reedbeds and wet vegetation are given space.