A drowned rat

Mega Hampshire news this morning of a singing male Marsh Warbler just up the road at Harbridge! Foul weather by the time I was on the bike, and even though it was only 3km away, I was drenched by the time I got there, and got thoroughly cold and wet. The bird was hardly showing well, but a few brief glimpses, coupled with an entirely convincing soundtrack of mimicked Great Tit, Chaffinch, Nightingale, Paradise-whydah (?) and god knows what else had Marsh Warbler (143) firmly and very unexpectedly on my year list. And not just my year list - this was also a Hampshire tick (only about the 25th modern county record)!