Guest blog by our Area Manager for Suffolk, Ben McFarland, who tells us about his important meeting with a local MP who we’ve asked to champion the plight of the bittern.
A cold wind was blowing on my back, but the sun shone bright as we stood at the top of Whin Hill, next to the BBC Springwatch studio, looking out over the reedbed. The view is magnificent and my heart swells to know that the swaying reeds below are currently home to at least ten booming male bitterns, busily setting up their territories. I was with our local MP, Dr Therese Coffey, and as we looked out I told her the story of how Minsmere led the way in the recovery of bittern, a bird we nearly lost as a breeding species from Britain in the 1990s. I was proud to be able to tell her that thanks to pioneering research work carried out by the RSPB at Minsmere there are now 157 booming males across the UK.
So why had Dr Coffey come to see the reedbed? Well, she has agreed to be our Bittern Champion, part of an innovative partnership project with other environmental charities to encourage MPs to champion nature in their constituencies and in parliament. There are many more Species Champions across the UK giving a voice to nature, from turtle doves to fen orchids, and it is our hope that they can play a vital role in the efforts to protect wildlife and meet the crucial 2020 target of halting biodiversity decline.
Whilst Dr Coffey was with us, I presented her with a painting of a bittern delicately hunting through the reeds in search of fish, painted by one of our many young visitors to Minsmere. When Dr Coffey returns to her parliamentary office, she has promised to hang it on her wall as a reminder of her newfound responsibility to one of Suffolk’s iconic creatures.
Ben presents Dr Coffey MP with a painting of a bittern
During her visit, I also took the opportunity to talk to Dr Coffey about the role bittern play in the local tourist economy. That might sound odd, but it is amazing just how many visitors to the Suffolk coast come to see bittern. In fact, nearly half of Minsmere’s 125,000 visitors are holiday makers, most of them hoping to glimpse this elusive but beautiful bird. These holiday makers in turn support local pubs, hotels and shops.
The draw of the bittern always reminds me of one of our visitors, who told me that the delight her daughter felt when she first saw a bittern was one of the highlights of her parenting life. I believe that if we are going to turn around the fortunes of our wildlife, we need to look to our success stories, like that of the bittern, and celebrate them, share them and use them to show just how important saving nature is for society. By stepping up as Bittern Champion, Dr Coffey can now help to support the bittern’s cause and spread the word that wildlife and wild places are good for all of us.
Sometimes working in wildlife conservation the wind can blow cold, but when I think of the bittern, it really does feel like the sun is shining.