Rare Bitterns Breeds For First Time In Over 200 Years

One of the UK’s most rare and threatened bird species has successfully bred on the Gwent Levels for the first time in over 200 years. Bittern chicks have fledged from two separate nests at the Newport Wetlands nature reserve.

The sighting was first recorded by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) team member Kevin Dupé, who has worked at the reserve for over 19 years, and later confirmed by local county bird recorder and ornithologist Darryl Spittle. Adult bittern in flight at Newport Wetlands Nature Reserve. Credit: Darryl Spittle Gwent Ornithological Society. Bitterns are a type of heron which live exclusively in reed beds. The species was once thought to be extinct in the UK following years of persecution and a dramatic loss of habitat, but populations have since returned to areas where high quality reed bed habitat still exists.