News has just been released by
the Wildlife Trusts today that a pair of Black-crowned Night Herons has
successfully bred in Britain for the first time ever on one of its reserves.
Two adults and two recently
fledged juveniles are now roosting at Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Westhay Moor
NNR on the Somerset Levels, having either bred there or nearby on the Avalon
Marshes site. The birds were captured on camera and made
their debut on Flickr.
Black-crowned Night Heron is a
scarce visitor to Britain, with around 10 or so records each year on average
(accounting for occasional fluctuations); only a dozen or so have been reported
in Somerset since 1800. With Somerset's recent history of breeding Cattle and
Great Egrets and Little Bitterns, this is perhaps a long-overdue event and
reaffirms the Avalon Marshes and Somerset Levels' significance as one of the
country's most important breeding areas for the heron family and other larger
marshland birds.
No comments:
Post a Comment