Little bitterns are difficult to see. They are small (so much is clear from their name) and they like big reedbeds. Back in 1984, a pair nested at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve of Potteric Carr in South Yorkshire. The East Coast main line runs through the wetland just before you get into Doncaster (heading North). It’s one place a short delay on my rail journey would be entirely bearable with views over the open water to reedy fringes beyond. Here's a picture of the male in flight (picture by John Crispin).
The story back then was that a male little bittern had been seen; a top rarity but no suspicion that there was any more to the story. A colleague was leading a YOC (now Wildlife Explorers) trip to the reserve and was surprised to see a female as well as the male. Male, female – they may be doing more than holding hands!
We joined forces with the Trust to run a species protection operation at the reserve and despite me working in our Huddersfield regional office – I managed to contrive to fail to see the birds! From memory, they fledged at least two young, the first in the UK. At the time, there were hopes that they were the vanguard of a colonisation, but as time passed it looked like it was just one of the ornithological oddities slipping back into history.
It sounds like the pair at our reserve at Ham Wall has been true to their secretive nature. There has been speculation and a lot of are they, aren’t they conversation. But eventually the sighting of a recently fledged young bird confirmed the news. Might it be, this time, that breeding little will become a feature of our wetlands? Well – time will tell but two things are very different from 1984. Then, there was no awareness of the degree that climate change was driving the changes in range of European breeding birds. Just as one storm can’t be attributed to climate change, neither can one successful nesting of a southern species. But it does fit a pattern and there is the coincidence of those purple herons at Dungeness.
Additionally the work to re-establish wetlands has had spectacular results. Back in 1983 Ham Wall didn’t exist in the form it is today. The wetlands at Dungeness (with their purple herons) weren’t there. Lakenheath with it’s cranes and bitterns was a carrot field.
Our ability to put back fantastic habitat – the knowledge that well planned, adequately funded and dedicate conservation projects really make a difference is a real reason to be cheerful. But it’s only a start – a few weeks ago we launched Futurescapes, our contribution to landscape-scale conservation. Yesterday the coalition Government launched an important consultation ‘An Invitation to shape the Nature of England’ – we’ll be responding and making a positive contribution to the Natural Environment White Paper. A central message is that nature conservation works.
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