Blooming, booming bitterns heard across Yorkshire
The Yorkshire figures come on the back of the national annual bittern survey results announced in March, which showed 283 booming males were recorded in the latest results from the RSPB and Natural England.Richard Barnard, Yorkshire area manager for the RSPB, said the results for the county were a "testament to the huge conservation efforts" made."At our three flagship wetland nature reserves in the region our teams have worked tirelessly to create and crucially maintain the reedbeds in tip-top condition for the bitterns to thrive."Most of our UK population can now be found in inland reedbeds, which means they are safe from coastal flooding."
Bitterns are a secretive and rare bird and are dependent on reedbed habitats, seeking out fish, insects and amphibians on the water's edge.It is the male's far-carrying booming sound, made in spring and summer to establish territories and attract mates, which can help give conservationists an indication of how well the species is doing.Persecution and draining of their wetland habitat saw the bittern extinct in the UK by the 1880s. They returned in the early 20th Century but were in danger of extinction in the UK again by the late 1990s.This prompted a wide-scale, targeted conservation effort led by the RSPB and Natural England to slow the decline and encourage numbers to increase.
Emma Tuckey, from RSPB Old Moor near Barnsley, said it was "amazing to think that back in the 1990s we only had 11 booming bitterns left in the whole country"."It just goes to show, if you build it, they will come, and we've created acres of reedbeds across Yorkshire so that these amazing birds can thrive, not to mention delight our visitors with their booming calls."A minimum of five bitterns had fledged from the Dearne Valley so far this year.At RSPB Blacktoft Sands, at least six young have fledged from two nests.Senior reserve manager Pete Short said seeing bitterns doing well was a "dream come true"."The excitement of hearing Britain's loudest bird is difficult to put into words."Thirty or 40 years ago you wouldn't have a chance of hearing bitterns in Yorkshire but now you can hear them here as well as right across the county, the Aire Valley and Dearne Valley."Their sound carries for miles when they are booming. You just have to hear a bittern boom and see one to really understand why we should save them."
Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Wolverhampton primary school's pupil numbers to rise by 60
Sixty new places are to be created at a primary school under a £1m programme that will see new traditional classrooms built and existing provision places at Perry Hall Primary School in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, will be spread across two new 30-pupil classes, one in Year 3 and one in Year 5, and have been created to address what the city council calls "significant" is one of the city's four "school planning areas" - the locations used to manage school council said the number of pupils in each primary year group, when expressed as a total across the city, had historically grown by about 300 from the start of their primary education to the end. The city's Year 5 cohort had already grown by nearly 340 pupils according to the same current Year 2 cohort had grown by nearly nine classes in three years and the city's Year 1 cohort had already increased by nearly six class sizes in two Stage Two classes – Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 – had increased beyond the historical average, with the latter three year groups all rising by more than 11 full classes.A council report said: "In recent years, there has been a significant increase in demand for in–year primary school places, and this is not abating."This is due to a combination of factors including migration, regeneration and housing, and the popularity and Ofsted ratings of Wolverhampton schools."To meet this demand, additional places are required throughout the city."The council said Perry Hall Primary School had shown it continued to provide an education that "reflected the evolving and increasingly complex needs of the pupils" and planned to refurbish and build 'traditional' classrooms rather than install "modular" temporary buildings."In recent years, several small group rooms have been established adjacent to Key Stage One and Two classrooms, to allow pupils to work with teachers in smaller numbers outside of the traditional class bases," it said."This has allowed the school to support children with progress, who may be disadvantaged or vulnerable."This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations. Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Divorced mum ordered to pay her ex-husband half the £160,000 cost of his trans surgery in legal first
A DIVORCED mum has been ordered to stump up £80,000 for her ex-husband's gender swap surgery - even though it tore their marriage apart. The furious 60-year-old mum-of-two split from her husband after he revealed he wanted to start hormone therapy in 2022. The couple, who married in 2002, led a "very international lifestyle living in several countries in different continents and purchasing properties in various countries". But a judge at Brighton Family Court ruled that splitting the cost of his transition was 'reasonable' because it was a 'need' not a 'whim'. The wife claimed her husband's decision to transition led to the breakdown of the their marriage. And so, she said it was unfair for her to pay £80,000 for the procedure. Her 58-year-old ex claimed his wife "always knew" he was trans, and told the court: 'Denying my request is like saying someone who had cancer should not have the surgery.' He also claimed he couldn't afford child support - despite blowing £14,000 of shared funds in a single month on 'clothing, nails, jewellery and restaurants.' In 2024 the husband, who was retraining as a masseuse, splashed £160,000 on the transition – using cash from the couple's £3million joint pot, even though they'd been separated for two years. The court battle racked up an eye-watering £1million in legal fees. His ex-wife 'was adamant that she was not aware the respondent wished to transition until the end of the marriage'. She began divorce proceedings after her husband announced he wanted to live as a lesbian woman instead. The judge admitted the husband 'showed no understanding' of how his choice affected others - but still ruled the funds must come from shared assets. He displayed a "striking lack of empathy", the judge said. The husband had declared: 'You marry a trans person. You live with a trans person. You benefit from a trans person.' 1
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Readers reply: Why can some people solve anagrams immediately?
Why can some people see the solutions to anagrams instantly? I stare at them for some time and cannot work them out, while I have friends who can solve them immediately. Annie Wilshere, St Asaph Send new questions to nq@ For simple anagrams, dyslexia helps. Words are a muddle of letters anyway, so seeing the solution is just an extension of reading sometimes. WoollyAphid I'm not dyslexic, but I have always been good at them. I just look at the letters arranged in a grid or a circle and usually the word leaps out at me in seconds. I think I have a linguistic brain, though, as I speak multiple languages, whereas I have no sense of direction at all – I could get lost in a cathedral. Some people's brains are just wired differently. My partner is a polymath, but he has struggled to learn a foreign language. When we go abroad, it's a good combination: I can do the talking and they can do the directions. FolieA2 I write the anagram in a circle and am able to see the word almost immediately. 67589959 Doesn't everyone write down the letters of an anagram in a circle? I don't know anyone who doesn't. Watch any episode of Countdown and you'll see that's what virtually every competitor does. Troy_McClure I write the vowels and consonants on separate lines, sometimes rearranging the consonants to break up common pairs. The most important thing is to break the pattern of letters in the original. ravenrider My dad was good at crosswords and anagrams and taught me to look for an ending first, eg 'ion', 'ing', 'ent'. That way, there were fewer letters to make up the rest of the word. I find it works sometimes, but not always. CazKat If you find them difficult, anagrams make your head hurt, don't they? I hate them. I was trying to do a crossword on a steam train once and was stuck with one, so I asked the man in a pinstripe and bowler hat sitting opposite me in the compartment. But he was no help whatsoever. I said: 'Excuse me, sir, but I wonder if you can help? I'm stuck for an anagram for 'flaneur' here and the tremultimate letter is R.' He replied: 'That's your funeral, then,' and went straight back to reading his FT. Well, I mean, really. ThereisnoOwl If you're ever challenged to find an anagram of 'new door', bear in mind that it's one word. EddieChorepost I've found that an anagram is best solved by the sea with a glass of armagnac. bricklayersoption
