Spoonbills successfully breed again at UK site

The group of birds, named after their broad bills which they sweep through water to feed, bred at Holkham national nature reserve on the north Norfolk coast for the first time last year.

They returned again this year, with the first adult arriving on March 11, and over the season eight breeding pairs successfully fledged 14 young – an increase on the six pairs which nested last year.

The birds are part of a group of around 40 adult and immature spoonbills spending the summer along the north Norfolk coast, moving between feeding sites on nature reserves and the Holkham breeding colony.

Spoonbills have been known to breed successfully just five times in England in the past 300 years, and the Holkham site is the first breeding colony for the bird in recent times.

The species has suffered long-term declines in Europe as a result of loss and degradation of its wetland habitat. With as few as 8,900 pairs remaining in Europe, which holds the bulk of the global population, the fortunes of the water bird are of concern to conservationists.