Birders have been flocking to see these Night Herons at many locations around the country. But in future years will they be reduced to the interest level that say, Little Egret now commands...
Colonisation of UK wetland birds
- Thread starter DesertRhino150
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Birders have been flocking to see these Night Herons at many locations around the country. But in future years will they be reduced to the interest level that say, Little Egret now commands...
No breeding records reported publicly AFAIK.
For the first time in 400 years spoonbills are now breeding on the Norfolk Broads, following the fledging of what appears to be a single chick at Hickling Broad. While they have increased markedly in the past two decades, the spoonbill is still a rare breeder in the UK with fewer than 10 breeding sites thought to exist.
More information can be found in the link below:
Spoonbill breeds in Norfolk Broads for first time in 400 years - BirdGuides
More information can be found in the link below:
Spoonbill breeds in Norfolk Broads for first time in 400 years - BirdGuides
The great egret has had a record-breaking breeding season this year, with the Avalon Marshes in Somerset recording no fewer than 88 chicks fledging from 53 different nests. The species first bred in the UK in 2012.
More information can be found in the link below:
Great Egret thriving in Somerset - BirdGuides
More information can be found in the link below:
Great Egret thriving in Somerset - BirdGuides
Belated news from last year that has just been announced - in August 2022 a pair of glossy ibises successfully nested and fledged young for the first time in Britain.
The pair bred in an unnamed location in Cambridgshire - the location has been kept secret in the hopes that the birds would return to breed, although that did not happen this year. Only a single chick was confirmed, although there may have been two (if so, neither were seen at the same time).
More information can be found in the link below:
Glossy Ibis breeds in Britain for first time - BirdGuides
The pair bred in an unnamed location in Cambridgshire - the location has been kept secret in the hopes that the birds would return to breed, although that did not happen this year. Only a single chick was confirmed, although there may have been two (if so, neither were seen at the same time).
More information can be found in the link below:
Glossy Ibis breeds in Britain for first time - BirdGuides
News from France, but it is such an interesting occurrence that I think it bears including here - for the second time in history, the lesser flamingo has bred in the south of the country. The only other time was in 2001 in the Camargue.
While still scarce, these birds are becoming increasingly common in Europe. There is now a small but permanent population in Spain and breeding there has occurred regularly since the turn of the century. In France, the species normally only occurs in small numbers, with one to five birds being the average and the record being nine individuals in 2013. They tend to occur among large greater flamingo flocks.
In the wider western Palearctic the only regular site for lesser flamingos is Banc d'Arguin National Park in Mauritania, where large flocks will congregate but the species does not breed.
More information can be found in the link below:
Lesser Flamingo breeds in France - BirdGuides
While still scarce, these birds are becoming increasingly common in Europe. There is now a small but permanent population in Spain and breeding there has occurred regularly since the turn of the century. In France, the species normally only occurs in small numbers, with one to five birds being the average and the record being nine individuals in 2013. They tend to occur among large greater flamingo flocks.
In the wider western Palearctic the only regular site for lesser flamingos is Banc d'Arguin National Park in Mauritania, where large flocks will congregate but the species does not breed.
More information can be found in the link below:
Lesser Flamingo breeds in France - BirdGuides
A couple of updates from this year:
For the first time, both great and cattle egrets nested in Nottinghamshire. Both species bred on the same reserve, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's Besthorpe Nature Reserve in the Trent Valley. One pair of great egrets were confirmed to breed and raised up to five chicks, with a second pair suspected to successfully breed. Four cattle egret fledglings were also seen on the site and are suspected to have come from the Besthorpe heronry, with two pairs suspected to breed.
First breeding of Great and Western Cattle Egrets in Nottinghamshire - BirdGuides
There have also been some interesting birds breeding in Highland county in Scotland this year, including the county's first recorded breeding common cranes and little ringed plovers, the first successful nesting of European nightjars in Highland since the 1970s and, most exciting of all, Britain's first successful breeding pair of Blyth's reed warbler. In recent years, the species has expanded westward from Russia through Scandinavia, increasing considerably in numbers in southern Norway and breeding in the Netherlands for the first time in 2021. Less than a decade ago, the species was practically unknown as a British visitor outside of vagrants to the Northern Isles.
Blyth's Reed Warbler breeds in Britain for first time - BirdGuides
For the first time, both great and cattle egrets nested in Nottinghamshire. Both species bred on the same reserve, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's Besthorpe Nature Reserve in the Trent Valley. One pair of great egrets were confirmed to breed and raised up to five chicks, with a second pair suspected to successfully breed. Four cattle egret fledglings were also seen on the site and are suspected to have come from the Besthorpe heronry, with two pairs suspected to breed.
First breeding of Great and Western Cattle Egrets in Nottinghamshire - BirdGuides
There have also been some interesting birds breeding in Highland county in Scotland this year, including the county's first recorded breeding common cranes and little ringed plovers, the first successful nesting of European nightjars in Highland since the 1970s and, most exciting of all, Britain's first successful breeding pair of Blyth's reed warbler. In recent years, the species has expanded westward from Russia through Scandinavia, increasing considerably in numbers in southern Norway and breeding in the Netherlands for the first time in 2021. Less than a decade ago, the species was practically unknown as a British visitor outside of vagrants to the Northern Isles.
Blyth's Reed Warbler breeds in Britain for first time - BirdGuides
And the RSPB report the first breeding of Great White Egret in Scotland, with 3 chicks fledging at Loch of Strathbeg.
On 20th June, it was confirmed that ospreys have successfully produced at least two chicks at Ranworth Broad in Norfolk, the first known breeding of ospreys anywhere in East Anglia in more than 250 years.
The parent birds colonised the site naturally, with this pair visiting the site for three years now. While a nesting platform had been erected to encourage migrating birds to settle down and nest, this pair elected to use a natural nest they started building last year.
The nest can be viewed via a telescope and live camera at the Ranworth Broad visitor centre.
The parent birds colonised the site naturally, with this pair visiting the site for three years now. While a nesting platform had been erected to encourage migrating birds to settle down and nest, this pair elected to use a natural nest they started building last year.
The nest can be viewed via a telescope and live camera at the Ranworth Broad visitor centre.
This year Spoonbills have successfully fledged from a nest at Burton Mere. I believe this is a first for the reserve.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
It's a bit of a while since that post, but it is colonisation vs absence it appears.
There have been successful goslings at Welney in the East of England for Whoopers. They come from a couple of pairs who have one of the two grounded due to wing damage or other physical issue. The youngsters they have migrate off and return again with the usual migration, with the breeding pair remaining behind. This is one member of one of the pairs photographed in the summer last year. They bred again this year.
A grounded Whooper (looks like a pylon injury) recently survived it's downing at Frampton Marsh and is still on the reserve behind the fox proofed fence - so there might also be a pairing there in future.
According to the RSPB site there are currently around 24 breeding pairs in the UK, the non grounded pairs tend to be resident in more Northerly spots, nesting in Shetland for example where they have been breeding since the 1990s.
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The great egret has now nested in Wales for the first time, with four chicks fledged from two nests at RSPB Cymru's Cors Ddyga reserve on Ynys Môn (Anglesey).
A pair of zitting cisticolas (fan-tailed warblers) have successfully bred for the first time in the UK. A singing male was discovered on Walberswick NNR in Suffolk on 3rd August, with a pair later seen carrying food to three newly-fledged juveniles on 22nd August, with a fourth chick confirmed the following morning.
This breeding has followed a sudden surge of sightings in 2025, suggesting a potential expansion of the species' range - something mirrored by an increase across the English Channel in northern France.
This breeding has followed a sudden surge of sightings in 2025, suggesting a potential expansion of the species' range - something mirrored by an increase across the English Channel in northern France.
We had a territory holding male near me in Dorset in 1977, and it was confidently expected that the species was about to colonise the UK. It’s taken a long time
Typhlonectes
Well-Known Member
Brilliant, we have had a couple in Kent this summer