herons

Another very secretive reedbed bird. The booming call of a Bittern is unmistakable, like someone blowing across the top of a very large milk bottle. Despite its size, it is tricky to spot being a master of camouflage, you can look right at one and not know it's there until it blinks. Bitterns are loners and spend a lot of time standing still. When you do see one, it is magic.

The Bittern is brown, streaked with black and buff to match the reeds. It has a black crown, long dagger bill, and huge light green feet. It flies owl-like on broad rounded wings with its neck hunched up like a Heron's. When alarmed it points its bill skywards and sways to mimic reeds in the wind. The deep booming call is heard mainly between March and July, typically at dusk, and the low note can carry for up to 5km!

Bitterns eat mainly fish, especially eels. A bit of a cockney geezer. It will also snack on small birds and amphibians. It searches for food with the tip of its bill, which makes it vulnerable if the water freezes over and it can't get its bill through the ice. Many will die in a harsh winter.

Bitterns return to their breeding grounds in spring. The male Bittern defends a large territory and uses his booming call to attract one or more females. Once he has done his business, like a good East End lad, he leaves the missus to do everything. She makes a nest from a heap of dead reeds and lays 4-6 eggs which hatch after 25 days. The youngsters leave the nest after 15 days and are cared for by mum until they can fly 50 days later. The youngsters disperse from the breeding ground in late summer and may visit smaller reedbeds and riverside marshes as they move about to find their own patch. Young Bitterns can breed after 1 year and their average lifespan is 10 years.

Many Bitterns stay within their territories, though some northern Bitterns will move south in autumn and be joined by others from northern Europe. There are 160 breeding pairs in Britain with numbers swelling to 600 in winter. There are about 29,000 Bitterns across all of Europe. The drainage of wetlands and the removal of eggs by egg collectors nearly wiped Bitterns out in Britain. In 1997 there were just 11 males left. Thankfully, their numbers are now steadily rising. The small numbers and their nature reserve dependency make them Amber Listed.

Their Latin name is 'botaurus stellaris' where 'botaurus' is derived from the Latin 'bos' for 'ox' and  'taurus' for bull because of the bellowing call. The 'stellaris' is Latin for 'starred' and refers to the Bittern's speckled plumage. The English name is a corruption of the Latin. Other names include; 'bog thumper', 'bull of the bog', 'bog hen', 'boom bird' and 'bottle bump'. Imagination runs wild when things are hard to see.

It is pretty obvious why we call them Spoonbills. They have a huge spatula-shaped bill. Each year, we get a small number (50-80 pairs) breeding in Britain, mainly on coastal marshes and reedbeds. They arrive in May and leave again in August for a warmer winter in southern Europe, though a few can overwinter here.

The Spoonbill is slightly smaller than a Grey Heron. It is white with a short shaggy crest, a long black spoon-shaped bill with a yellow tip, and thick black legs. It can have a yellow band on its breast when in breeding plumage. Youngsters have black tips on their wings. In flight, they hold their necks and long bills out front and trail their feet out the back, giving them a distinctive profile compared to Herons, Egrets, Swans, and Geese. Spoonbills are mainly silent, only doing some bill snapping at their nests. While sleeping during the day, they annoyingly tuck their bills along their backs, making them difficult to see, their thick black legs being the only giveaway.

Spoonbills feed together in groups on open water, often in the dark and seldom mixing with other birds, as they are shy and don’t want anyone to make fun of their strange bills. They feed by sweeping their bills from side to side, filtering tiny creatures out of the water. The moment any small creature touches the inside of their bill, it is snapped tightly shut. They eat insects, larvae, snails, small fish, amphibians and plants. Because of the tiny size of their food, they need to feed for many hours each day.

They occasionally breed in Norfolk and Yorkshire, nesting in colonies with nests so close together they can be touching. Members of the colony will gang together to drive predators away. The scruffy nest is a pile of reeds and twigs on the ground. The colony’s egg-laying is synchronised so the chicks hatch at about the same time and can be cared for by all the parents in the colony. Mum lays  2-4 eggs which hatch after 24 days. The youngsters can fly at 24 days but are fed by their parents for 10 weeks. 

In Europe, Spoonbills experienced a significant decrease between 1960 and 1990, but since then they have recovered and there are now estimated to be about 29,000 mature birds. The decrease in numbers was caused by a combination of DDT poisoning (which is now banned) and the drainage of marshes leading to the loss of breeding grounds. Spoonbills are now specially protected and the conservation of marshes has helped them.

Their Latin name is ’platalea leucorodia’ where ’platalea’ is from the Ancient Greek meaning ‘broad’, and  ’leucorodia’ is from  ’leukerodios’ for ‘spoonbill’, combination of ’leukos’ for ‘white’ and ’erodios’ for ‘heron’. In England, it was traditionally known as the ‘shovelard’, a name that was later used for the Shoveler duck instead.

The Great White Egret, often just called a Great Egret, is a recent newcomer to Britain though spreading rapidly. It is found on wet meadows and lakes and is mainly a winter visitor. As its name suggests, the Great White Egret is a large, white heron. They can look similar to Little Egrets, but they are much, much bigger.

The Great White Egret is similar in size to a Grey Heron. It is all white with black legs and feet, and a long yellow dagger bill. Confusingly, they can have a black bill when breeding. Like the Little Egret, they have wispy breeding plumes over their back, but as it mainly breeds elsewhere, we rarely see these. The flight is slow and ponderous with their necks retracted. This is characteristic of Herons and Bitterns and makes them easy to tell apart from Storks, Cranes, and Spoonbills, which stick their necks out. The rarely heard call is a rippling, deep rattling “brrrrrr”.

Their main food is fish, insects and frogs. They stand in shallow water, patiently waiting for a meal to approach, then spear it with their long, sharp bill.

The Somerset Levels were home to the UK’s first breeding pair of Great White Egrets in 2012, though they mainly breed in colonies elsewhere. The nests are made in trees close to a large lake with reedbeds or other large wetlands. 

They don’t start breeding until they are 2–3 years old and form a monogamous pair each season. The male selects a suitable tree, starts a nest, and then uses it to attract a female. The nest is made of sticks and lined with plant material and can be up to 3 feet across! Up to six bluish-green eggs are carefully laid and both parents incubate the eggs for 23–26 days. Once hatched, mum and dad feed the youngsters by regurgitating (sicking up) food. They can fly after 6–7 weeks, no doubt relieved to be able to feed themselves and leave the tree.

Great White Egrets can appear in almost any part of the UK, though they are most frequently found in southeast England and East Anglia. About 200 overwinter here. Like the Little Egret, the Great White Egret was once persecuted for its beautiful long-white breeding plumes, which were used in ladies’ hats. In the United States, they were almost wiped out completely during the late 1800s. Those dastardly Victorians!

Their Latin name is ’ardrea alba’ where ’ardea’ is Latin for ‘heron’ and ’alba’ is ‘white’. It has several local names such as ‘common egret’, ‘large egret’, or ‘great white heron’. They are found throughout the world with four subspecies in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe.