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In 1997 there were only 11 male bitterns left in
the country, but now conservationists think there are at least 42.
For
the first time in half a century the boom of a breeding male bittern,
is back at a Norfolk nature reserve.
The
rare and shy bird is calling for a mate at the Royal Society for
the Protection of Birds' Strumpshaw Fen in the Yare Valley.
The
last record of bittern breeding was reported by the Norfolk naturalist
and broadcaster Ted Ellis in the 1950s.
For almost 30 years from 1885 the bird did not
breed in England. By 1911 it was breeding again in Norfolk and by
1954 numbers had increased to about 80 booming males in seven counties.
Now there are 33 male bitterns in our region, at
Strumpshaw Fen, Minsmere and North Warren.
In October 2003, plans to re-establish the vanishing
wildlife of the Fens were unveiled by the RSPB.
The aim is to create 5000 hectares of new wetlands
in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Lincolnshire, to encourage
more wildlife.
It's hoped that bittern population will also be
helped after similar work was carried out at Strumpshaw Fen nature
reserve.
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Recommended reading
By Sheila McKeown, a librarian at the Millennium Library in
Norwich.
Environments: Sustainable World by Rob Bowden.
Hodder Wayland 2003, ISBN 0750239840.
Pollution and Conservation by Rebecca Hunter,
Raintree 2003, ISBN 1844216799.
You can get hold of these books through
your local library.
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