Bittern Botaurus stellaris

One of the rarest breeding birds in the UK, the elusive, well camouflaged Bittern can be found all year round in the reedbeds of the Norfolk Broads. Their characteristic booming calls can be heard from March until June.

You can listen to the Bittern's call by clicking below: Bittern booming on a Norfolk broad by Tolly music

Conservation status in Norfolk

Endangered - The bittern is one of the rarest breeding birds in the UK and is a Red List species.

Click to see the Biodiversity Action Plan Species for this species

How to help

Bitterns depend on reedbeds and it is the loss of large areas of wet freshwater reedbed that have contributed so much to the bittern’s decline as a breeding bird. Coastal and Broadland reedbeds in Norfolk are increasingly threatened by rising sea-levels with periodic inundation by saltwater reducing the populations of freshwater fish which bitterns feed on. Protecting and improving existing reedbeds in Norfolk to make them suitable for bitterns is extremely important as is the creation of new reedbeds. You can help do this by joining the Norfolk Wildlife Trust both as a member and as a volunteer helping with reedbed management. Norfolk Wildlife Trust is currently working with the Environment Agency to create new reedbed habitat for bitterns in Norfolk’s fenland.

Adopt me today and help ensure my future!

Ian Simons Holme Dunes 2007

David Colk Hickling May 2009

Brian McFarlane

Information on the Bittern

How to recognise

Bitterns are brilliantly camouflaged with their warm brown plumage streaked with black markings making it difficult to spot them in their favoured reedbed habitat. During the breeding season you are more likely to hear the males distinctive booming call than to see one. Bitterns are a member of the heron family and have the long legs, long neck, dagger-like beak and broad rounded wings characteristic of the family. They are smaller than a grey heron at 70 -80 cms long. Their plumage is a mixture of browns and buffs with lots of dark brown and black streaks and bars giving it a mottled appearance. In flight the rounded wings curve downwards giving them an almost owl-like appearance. Depending on the light they can appear warm orange-brown to dark brown or even black.

Where to see

Bitterns are rarely seen away from reedbeds. They favour wetlands with extensive reed cover making the Norfolk Broads one of the best areas in the UK to see them. However, they are very elusive and unless you are lucky sightings can be few and far between. NWT Hickling Broad reserve and NWT Cley Marshes are two good nature reserves to look for this species. Other Norfolk sites include RSPB’s Strumpshaw Fen and Titchwell Marsh reserves.

When to see

Bitterns are recorded in Norfolk all year round and a good time to see them is in the winter when the small breeding population is boosted by wintering bitterns from abroad. Listen out for their booming calls from early March until June. Dawn and dusk are the best times to listen but on warm still nights they regularly also call during hours of darkness. In summer, when adults are feeding young, bitterns may be seen in flight more frequently than at other times.

Did you know?

The male bittern uses his booming call to attract a mate and it can be heard up to 2 kilometres away.
In former centuries bitterns were hunted for food in Norfolk.
A local Norfolk name for the bittern is butterbump.
There are more bitterns dead in glass cases in Norfolk than alive in Norfolk reedbeds – bitterns were a favoured target of Victorian taxidermists and egg collectors.

Finding out more

www.rspb.org.uk

Related questions

What wildlife can I find in valley fens?

The valley fens, unlike the floodplain fens with their breeding Bittern and marsh harrier, are not renowned for their birdlife but are a refuge for a wide range of special plant communities supporting some of the county’s rarest plants. Among these is a wide range of orchids including marsh helleborine, the insect eating sundews and striking grass of Parnassus. The fens are also particularly important for invertebrates: the rare bog bush cricket and extremely rare snails – narrow mouthed whorl snail and Desmoulin’s whorl snail – headline a long list of molluscs that thrive in the damp calcareous soils.

Where and when can I hear a bittern calling?

Bitterns boom (the name given to the low pitched call of the male) in spring and early summer at breeding sites. In Norfolk bitterns breed in the Norfolk Broads and in some reedbeds on the north Norfolk Coast. The best time to hear a bittern is at dawn or dusk or a still warm day between April and June. Bitterns will also boom at night and will call sporadically at any time of day especially early in the breeding season when establishing their territory.

Good sites to visit for bitterns are NWT Hickling Broad, NWT Cley Marshes, RSPB Strumpshaw Fen and RSPB Titchwell Marsh. If you do hear a bittern booming in Norfolk, please let us know by emailing us or if appropriate by reporting your record at the nature reserve visitor centre.

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