55 Booming Males in 2004!
The bittern has become one of Britain\'s greatest wildlife success stories, says the RSPB and English Nature, as figures released today reveal the number of these rare shy herons has increased fivefold in just seven years.
In 1997 only eleven bitterns were found during a UK-wide survey, but this year experts counted at least 55 bitterns at 30 sites, including strongholds in East Anglia and around the Humber with others in Lancashire, Wales, Kent and Somerset. A government action plan for the bittern hoped for 50 booming bitterns by 2010, but the target has been broken six years early.
