Rare bird's stronghold protected

Aquatic warbler numbers have fallen dramatically in recent years (Image: Alexander Kozulin - APB/BirdLife Belarus)

The future of mainland Europe's rarest songbird, the aquatic warbler, looks brighter following a deal to protect a key breeding site, campaigners say.

The UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) part-funded the purchase of land in Poland's Biebrza Marshes.

The RSPB hopes it will prevent further loss of important habitat in the area.

It is the first time in the society's 117-year history that it has secured land outside of the UK.

The RSPB provided a guarantee of £400,000 (590,000 euros) of funding to a European Union project that aimed to manage land used by the aquatic warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola).

"Using RSPB funds to secure land purchase overseas is an exciting development for the society," the RSPB's chief executive, Graham Wynn, said.

"The Biebrza Marshes support 80% of the European Union's population of the globally threatened [bird]."

Since 1970, the bird's population has fallen dramatically following the destruction of breeding sites, with many wetlands being drained for agricultural use and rivers being transformed in to canals.

The warbler breeds in lowland marshes, with water less than 10cm deep. It migrates to west Sub-Saharan Africa for the winter, although its exact destination is uncertain.

Wetlands restoration

The project, developed by the RSPB and the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds (OTOP), will form a blueprint for the management of approximately 415 sq km (160 sq miles) of fens and wet meadows, primarily in Poland but also in a small part of Germany.

Within this area, 28 sq km (11 sq miles) will be restored as wetlands for breeding the aquatic warbler.

Izabela Flor, OTOP's chief executive, said: "The wildlife of Biebrza Marshes is incredibly important and distinctive; four out of five of all of the European Union's aquatic warblers are found here, as well as about half of the EU's greater spotted eagles."