Bittern

Description:

My first ever sighting of this species and it happened at the very appropriately named Bittern hide within a few minutes of arriving there. Over the next hour we saw and photographed two more.
Back in the 1990s the number of bitterns here had dwindled to just 1 pair and it was feared that the species would become extinct in the UK due to the marshes having dried out. The dried reeds and dead vegetation was all removed along with a large amount of silt and a new irrigation system was installed to maintain water levels. Over the following years this work was expanded to other areas of the reserve, and the Bitterns have now responded with at least 10 breeding pairs in 2016.
Other areas of the UK have followed this example and there are now perhaps 100 breeding pairs throughout the UK.which produced over 150 chicks.

Habitat:

Coastal marshes.