Spoonbills may start to settle in the region

Last week I reported on a low – the likely loss of nightingales as a breeding bird in Yorkshire after none were recorded on Thorne Moors this year, the first time this has happened since 1976.

So it is nice to speculate on the possible new additions to the Yorkshire breeding list in the next few years.

Oneof these might well be the spoonbill following this week's announcement by Natural England of up to six breeding pairs at the Holkham National Nature Reserve in Norfolk.

Four pairs have already fledged six young while the other two pairs are still feeding nestlings.

There has been speculation for a good many years that spoonbills might become established in this country again after more than 300 years following the steady increase in the Dutchpopulationto more than 1,500 pairs.

Individuals and small parties of non-breeding birds have been a regular feature here in spring and summer with the RSPB's Blacktoft Sands reserve on the Humber a regular calling off point – a juvenile was there this week.

There have been three other breeding successes in recent years, one as far north as Kirkcudbright Bay in Scotland where a pair successfully reared three young.

But spoonbills normally breed in colonies and for six pairs to establish themselves in this way in Norfolk suggests something more permanent than the occasional isolated breeding attempt.

For Yorkshire birdwatchers it should also mean more sightings of this bird with its distinctive broad bill at wetlands across the region and perhaps one day a breeding pair in the region.

This success follows that of the little egret which bred for the first time in this country as recently as 1996.

Since then they have spread rapidly with the first breeding pair in Yorkshire at Wheldrake Ings last summer.

This year numbers of what was once a rare sighting in Yorkshire are astonishing with a peak of 19 at Blacktoft Sands, nine at Potteric Carr, near Doncaster, at least seven at Swillington Ings, near Leeds, and five at Filey Dams.

More breeding pairs in Yorkshire seem inevitable and how soon will they be joined by cattle and great white egrets?

Nationally there is the exciting news of a pair of little bitterns breeding at the RSPB's Ham Wall reserve in Somerset, the second UK reserve following the pair that reared three young at Potteric Carr in 1984.

A first for Britain is the pair of purple heron which have hatched at least two young at the RSPB's Dungeness reserve in Kent.

All these successes are a tribute to the dedicated grass roots workers from the RSPB, Natural England and other conservation organisations for their strenuous efforts to create the wetland habitats these birds need.

An adult black-necked grebe was seen at Pugney's Country Park, near Wakefield, and it has been revealed that a pair of these rare birds successfully fledged three young at Swillington Ings, the first to do so there for 50 years.

Bearded tits have had an excellent breeding season at Blacktoft Sands and some can be expected to start turning up at other sites, two were seen at the Fairburn Ings reserve near Castleford.

A juvenile whiskered tern continued to be seen at the Saltholme reserve on Teesside, there were four roseate terns at South Gareand a black tern at Hornsea Mere.

One or two black redstarts were seen along the Yorkshire coast while there was one inland at Glovershaw, Eldwick, Bingley.

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CW 7/8/10