Boom time as rare bitterns set up home in Midlands
Bird on brink of extinction breeds here for first time in 135 years
LOCAL conservationists are celebrating a near wildlife miracle. The bittern, one of Britain’s rarest birds, has successfully bred in the West Midlands for the first time in 135 years.
Once again, the bird’s haunting ‘boom’ – a unique call akin to someone blowing down a cardboard tube – is echoing across the region.
The RSPB this week revealed five young have been successfully raised at Middleton Lakes, a nature reserve near Sutton Coldfield.
It is the first successful nesting of bitterns in the area since 1886 when there were unconfirmed reports of fledglings at Sutton Park.
Since then, the bittern – a secretive member of the heron family that lurks in reed beds – has slipped to the very precipice of extinction.
It has suffered from habitat loss and persecution.
By 1997, only 11 males were recorded in the country. The RSPB now lists 80, the majority confined to Norfolk’s wetlands.
Incredibly, not one, but two female bitterns chose to nest in a
small section of restored reed bed at the Middleton Lakes – one of the bird charity’s newest reserves.
Kate Thorpe, site manager at Middleton Lakes, said: “We were delighted to hear our first ever booming bittern on the reserve in March and
have been monitoring the site to see if it found a mate.
“We were amazed when we realised we had two successful nests in the restored reed bed – one on either side of the county borders.
“It really goes to show the impact good habitat management can have for threatened species. The work our expert staff and dedicated volunteers
have done to bring these birds back to the reserve is incredible.”
The bird’s return has much to do with the creation of a 15-acre reed bed at the lakes.
Willow scrub was removed and volunteers planted 10,000 “reed plugs” brought in from RSPB Langford Lowfields, Nottinghamshire. Kate added: “The reed bed pool has provided the perfect nesting habitat for this year’s breeding bitterns, while a separate new reed bed on the reserve has become an important feeding area.”
The news comes during a boomtime for bitterns.
In Somerset, a total of 34 males were heard booming across RSPB, Natural England and Somerset Wildlife
Trust reserves. At RSPB St Aidan’s, near Leeds, four booming males were heard this season and four nests confirmed.
Nearby RSPB Fairburn Ings recorded two ‘boomers’, with another just off site. RSPB Leighton Moss near Carnforth, Lancashire, documented six booming bitterns, the greatest number recorded on the reserve since the 1990s.
Bitterns have been spotted wintering in the West Midlands, but have never stayed for the breeding season.
In 2014, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust reported: “Bittern numbers seem to have reached a peak of up to seven individuals in the county at any one winter time, but as far as is known, bitterns have never bred in the sub-region.
“It is likely seasonal variations may account for changes in this distribution where mild winters may not encourage birds to travel so far to over winter.
“The emphasis for this species is the development of the habitat so that individuals can be encouraged to stay into the breeding season and establish the counties first breeding pair.”
That goal has finally been achieved.