BITTERN NUMBERS BOOMING ACROSS ENGLAND
Joint research by the RSPB and English Nature this week reveals the most dramatic annual increase in the population of the bittern, one of the UKs rarest birds, since this species started to recover from near extinction in 1997. Results show that numbers of this extremely rare brown heron have reached at least 42 booming males, nearly quadruple the number recorded just 6 years ago, making this a triumph for conservation.
Bittern numbers had dropped dramatically in the past as large areas of reedbed habitat on which the bitterns depend were drained, destroyed or neglected leaving many bitterns without a home. However, intensive work to create new reedbeds, and better management of existing areas, has helped reverse the previously dramatic decline in the population, for example at RSPB\'s Strumpshaw Fen which has seen bitterns recently re-established.
