Rare bittern population booming with record high numbers

Britain's loudest bird, the bittern is booming with its population at a record high, according to conservationists.

The wetland bird was extinct in the UK but this year numbers are up with at least 164 birds counted at 71 sites, compared to 162 at 78 sites last year.

The distinctive foghorn-like booming call of the male is used by researchers to track the elusive species.

Bitterns have also recolonised the Somerset Levels since 2008 with 49 males located, up from 47 last year.

The annual survey, organised by the RSPB, reported an increase in booming males in Wales and at three new sites - two in Wales and one in Cambridgeshire.

But the charity said there had been a slight drop in numbers in core areas in eastern England, such as the Suffolk coast, Norfolk Broads and the Fens this year.

The heron-like bird - once prized in medieval banquets - was considered extinct as a breeding species in the UK by the 1870s.

It recolonised the UK in the early 20th Century, but while numbers rose to a peak of around 80 males in the 1950s by 1997 numbers had plummeted to just 11 males.

The RSPB said the bird's success has been down to intensive conservation efforts to protect its preferred habitat of dense, wet reedbeds.

Simon Wotton, from the RSPB, said: "In the late 1990s, the bittern was heading towards extinction once again in the UK.

"But thanks to conservation efforts to restore and create its preferred habitat of wet reedbed, the bittern was saved and we're delighted to see another record year for this amazing bird."