Abstract

Action taken since the mid 1990s to prevent the extinction and then bring about the recovery of the UK Eurasian Bittern Botaurus stellaris population might reasonably be regarded as a huge success: there were some 233 booming males in 2023, the highest number ever recorded. But Bitterns are closely associated with reedbeds, a habitat prone to rapid succession to habitats unsuitable for Bitterns, at least in the current British landscape. In this paper we assess what action might be required to ensure that we retain the UK Bittern population and promote further increase. We first update information on the extent of recovery and identify the key factors which have driven it. We report a summary of the current state of the reedbed resource, based on a recent audit of 29 key sites, and identify actions which might be applied both at these sites and across those within the historical UK range of the species.