Widespread breeder on wetlands with dense herbaceous vegetation, like alkaline marshes, wet pastures, irrigation ca- nals, edges of fishponds. The breeding population was stable (1.4 ± 2.2%) between 1999 and 2018, showing an increasing trend in the first half of the period and decreasing in the second half. The wintering population trend was uncertain (2.6 ± 4.8%) between 2000 and 2018, with large fluctuations. The breeding population is partial migrant, birds from Be- larus, the Baltic states and mainly from Finland overwinter. E. s. intermedia and E. s. tschusii are rare vagrants, the nominate race is a regular winter visitor, E. s. stresemanni is a regular breeder, E. s. ukrainae is a migrant and winter visitor.