First RSPB record of bittern booming on the Isle of Wight
'Hearing a booming bittern on a wetland reserve is like receiving a Michelin star as a restaurant; it’s one of the highest marks of success we could hope for. Bitterns have very selective habitat needs, and to attract them you need a truly thriving ecosystem.'
- Keith Ballard, warden of RSPB Brading Marshes
Image: Ben Andrews
The distinctive mating call of Britain’s loudest bird, the bittern, has been heard booming at RSPB Brading Marshes on the Isle of Wight for the first time.
As the boom volume grew, so too did the excitement, as the presence of one of the UK’s rarest birds is both an indicator that the species is continuing to recover and that RSPB’s recently restored wetland is flourishing. For conservationists, attracting breeding bitterns is widely considered one of the best indicators of successful wetland management.
Bitterns are highly secretive wetland birds and live most of their time within dense stands of reed, making them very difficult to survey. However, scientists count bitterns by listening for the male’s foghorn-like booming call, an indicator that a male is searching for a mate.
The species was considered extinct in the UK by the 1870s, but following recolonisation early in the 20th Century, numbers of bitterns increased to a peak of about 80 booming males in the 1950s, but then fell to fewer than 20 in the 1990s, with similar declines witnessed in many other countries in Western Europe. By 1997, there were only eleven booming male bitterns in the UK; these were mainly within Norfolk and Suffolk, with a small outlying population at Leighton Moss, in Lancashire. Thankfully, due to intensive conservation efforts the population is now recovering. However, there are still less than 200 bitterns at fewer than 75 UK sites, making the discovery of male trying to breed on the Isle of Wight even more remarkable as the population grows.
Expert habitat management at RSPB Brading Marshes reserve has already seen three new wetland species; marsh harrier, little egret and great crested grebe, successfully breed on the Isle of Wight.
The RSPB hopes that this booming bittern’s mating call will be successful in attracting a female, and that they too will successfully breed on the reserve; becoming yet another first for the island.
Keith Ballard, warden of RSPB Brading Marshes said; “Hearing a booming bittern on a wetland reserve is like receiving a Michelin star as a restaurant; it’s one of the highest marks of success we could hope for. Bitterns have very selective habitat needs, and to attract them you need a truly thriving ecosystem. The work we have done to manage the reserve for insects, fish, reptiles and mammals, as well as birds, now means we have one of the most UK’s most sensitive species choosing the Isle of Wight as its home.”
www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/brading-marshes
As the boom volume grew, so too did the excitement, as the presence of one of the UK’s rarest birds is both an indicator that the species is continuing to recover and that RSPB’s recently restored wetland is flourishing. For conservationists, attracting breeding bitterns is widely considered one of the best indicators of successful wetland management.
Bitterns are highly secretive wetland birds and live most of their time within dense stands of reed, making them very difficult to survey. However, scientists count bitterns by listening for the male’s foghorn-like booming call, an indicator that a male is searching for a mate.
The species was considered extinct in the UK by the 1870s, but following recolonisation early in the 20th Century, numbers of bitterns increased to a peak of about 80 booming males in the 1950s, but then fell to fewer than 20 in the 1990s, with similar declines witnessed in many other countries in Western Europe. By 1997, there were only eleven booming male bitterns in the UK; these were mainly within Norfolk and Suffolk, with a small outlying population at Leighton Moss, in Lancashire. Thankfully, due to intensive conservation efforts the population is now recovering. However, there are still less than 200 bitterns at fewer than 75 UK sites, making the discovery of male trying to breed on the Isle of Wight even more remarkable as the population grows.
Expert habitat management at RSPB Brading Marshes reserve has already seen three new wetland species; marsh harrier, little egret and great crested grebe, successfully breed on the Isle of Wight.
The RSPB hopes that this booming bittern’s mating call will be successful in attracting a female, and that they too will successfully breed on the reserve; becoming yet another first for the island.
Keith Ballard, warden of RSPB Brading Marshes said; “Hearing a booming bittern on a wetland reserve is like receiving a Michelin star as a restaurant; it’s one of the highest marks of success we could hope for. Bitterns have very selective habitat needs, and to attract them you need a truly thriving ecosystem. The work we have done to manage the reserve for insects, fish, reptiles and mammals, as well as birds, now means we have one of the most UK’s most sensitive species choosing the Isle of Wight as its home.”
www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/brading-marshes
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