First confirmed breeding Bittern at Dorset nature reserve

The first confirmed breeding Bittern has been recorded at a nature reserve in Dorset, a charity has said.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said the milestone at Lodmoor Nature Reserve marked the first breeding recorded in the county since 1883.

The charity said the female Bittern had been seen making regular feeding flights across the reserve.

It added that while the fledglings have not yet been spotted moving around the reedbeds, its Dorset team is hopeful they will fledge in the coming days.

Bitterns, external are one of the UK’s rarest breeding herons and are very secretive, spending most of their lives hidden within dense reedbeds.

Reedbed loss, wetland drainage and hunting, drove them to extinction as breeding birds in Britain by the late 19th Century.

Although they began to recover during the 20th Century, numbers fell to just 11 booming males by 1997.