Published on 09/04/2013 15:28
An ‘extremely rare’ bird with a boom described as being
‘like a foghorn’ has been spotted on one of the coastal nature reserves near
Louth.
The bittern, a wading bird and member of the Heron family,
features in a new report from the Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership
(GLNP).
At one point in the 1990s there were just 11 ‘booming’
male bitterns in the UK giving it the EU’s priority species rating, though now
there are believed to be around 75 breeding males.
Louth bird surveyor John Clarkson, who wrote a book
entitled ‘Birds of Louth’ in 2007, said such sightings were ‘extremely rare’ in
this part of Lincolnshire.
“They were perilously close to extinction at one point and
are now heavily protected,” he said.
“But if you go to the right place and be very patient, you
can see them , but they are very easily disturbed.
“They often give themselves away with their loud boom,
which is their mating call. This can be heard usually in the early morning or
towards dusk.”
Speaking to the Leader, John recalled in his book that
there had only been one sighting of a bittern in the Louth area.
In 2004 a bittern was a brief winter visitor at a pond in
the corner of a field near Julian Bower, off London Road
The bittern became all but extinct in Britain
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