Twyford

One of the rarest birds in Britain is currently putting in an appearance at Wokingham Borough Council’s Dinton Pastures Country Park in Hurst.

This stocky member of the heron family is a secretive bird. Its brown patterned plumage makes it very well camouflaged and normally difficult to spot in the reed beds it feeds in.

“It is the bittern’s dependence on reed beds which makes it a red list species and one of the most threatened birds in the UK” said countryside officer Simon Bartlam.

However, at Hurst Dinton Pastures these elusive birds are being spotted regularly as they drop into the reed beds at dusk. Fraser Cottington, from Friends of Lavells Lake and a keen bird watcher, said: “They seem to mostly come in from along the River Loddon, but do a lot of circling, landing in the tree tops above the Loddon and generally putting on an amazing show before coming in to roost in the reeds around White Swan Lake. This is probably the only site in Britain where you are practically guaranteed to see a bittern at each visit and up to three can regularly be seen at a time”.

Bitterns like to spend the winter in patches of reeds with a good food supply of fish, eels, frogs and insects. At Dinton Pastures, Hurst the borough council’s countryside service has been extending the reed beds on White Swan Lake and Lavell’s Lake. Thanks to this extension of habitat, the country park has become a regular site for bitterns to spend the winter. During the recent cold snap the lakes were frozen and there were worries that the bitterns would have problems feeding on fish, frogs and insects, so roach, sprats and eels were thrown into the reeds to help them out!

“We are very pleased these fabulous birds approve of our habitat management and we hope they continue to be a regular feature of winters here for many years to come” added Simon Bartlam.

Wokingham Borough Council ~ Hurst