News archive
September 2010
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Red-backed Shrike breeds again in England
Red-backed Shrikes have successfully raised a brood in England for the first time in 18 years. The pair fledged three chicks from a closely guarded nest site on Dartmoor. RSPB staff and volunteers from the Dartmoor Study Group and Devon Bird Watching & Preservation Society have been watching the nest around the clock since May as convicted egg collecters were spotted at the breeding site. Red-backed Shrikes last bred in East Anglia in 1992. It is hoped that the birds will return next year and that this is the start of their re-colinisation in the UK.
This is further encouraging news following on from the Bittern's record year and breeding successes for Purple Herons in Kent, Little Bitterns in Somerset and Spoonbills in Norfolk.
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Bittern has record year
News has just been released that the Bittern has had its most successful year on record. A total of 87 booming males were recorded in the UK in 2010, which is the highest number since it recolonised the country in 1911. This is all the more remarkable following the very cold start to the year.
East Anglia still remains the stronghold with 62 recorded males this year, 32 of them in Suffolk and the reserves on the Suffolk coast still remain the best place to see this iconic bird, however they are also present in the reedbeds at RSPB Lakenheath. Numbers have risen in the Fens and the Somerset Levels which hopefully bode well for what is still one of the UK's rarest birds.
