Boom time for Somerset’s bitterns

2 September 2010

Tony Whitehead
Public Affairs Officer
E-mail: tony.whitehead@rspb.org.uk

There may be question marks hanging over the recovery of the regional economy, but there is no doubting the recovery of the bittern in Somerset, say conservationists. 

This nationally rare heron, known for its remarkable “booming” call, has enjoyed its most successful year in the county since it first bred in 2008 following an absence of forty years.  In all 14 males were recorded this year in the Avalon Marshes to the west of Glastonbury, seven more than in 2009.

The Avalon Marshes includes the RSPB’s Ham Wall nature reserve and Natural England’s Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve.

The RSPB reserve hit the headlines last month with only the second ever UK breeding record of the bitterns even more elusive cousin, the little bittern.

Ray Summers, RSPB Site Warden at Ham Wall said “Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better – it did!  Not only did we have our little bittern nest, we also seemed to have their bigger cousins everywhere we looked – it has been a remarkable spring”.

In the UK bitterns only nest in reedbeds, and the majority of the population is in Norfolk and Suffolk.  The success of the birds in the West Country is especially important for the national population as it demonstrates they are expanding their range.

Ray Summers; “One of the most important things we can do to secure a long term future for bitterns in the UK is to expand the core population away from its traditional base in East Anglia. Having a population of rare birds in one place is risky; should anything happen to that population then we lose everything. But having a population that is more dispersed reduces this risk.”

The growth in the Somerset population comes as conservationists celebrate the best year ever for the bird in the UK. A UK monitoring programme for this shy bird of reedbeds has revealed the presence of 87 males, delighting those who have worked so hard to prevent this bird from becoming extinct in the UK. The programme recorded 82 males last year, the previous record holder.

The Bittern monitoring programme is funded through Action for Birds in England, a conservation partnership between Natural England and the RSPB.