Species

Species	Aquatic warbler - Acrocephalus paludicola, bird
Habitat	REEDBED
Background and status	The aquatic warbler is a globally-threatened, declining species, breeding only in central and eastern Europe, and wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. It is also a rare but regular autumn migrant to sites in southern Britain, particularly wetlands along the south coast. It is easily overlooked, so the proportion of the total post-breeding population concerned (consisting mainly of juveniles) is believed to be sufficient to warrant UK conservation action.
Main Threats	Limiting factors on the population as a whole operate outside the UK. The main threats appear to be: Availability of suitable breeding habitat, particularly since the unusual breeding system requires a large tract of such habitat. Habitat changes in the wintering areas, caused by drought, modification of wetlands, increasing human population, overgrazing of grasslands by cattle, succession of grassland communities to scrub, desertification and salinisation of irrigated soils. However, the precise wintering areas are unknown, so this is highly speculative.
Conservation and targets	To maintain suitable habitat of sufficient extent to support those aquatic warblers migrating through the UK.