A taste of Africa

The Spoonbill is one of those birds that always reminds me of Africa; with its long, spatula-tipped bill, it seems just too exotic to be a truly British bird. It is, however, a species that was once a regular part of our breeding avifauna, with nesting colonies present in the Broads up until the middle of the 17^th Century or thereabouts. Since that time it has become something of a scarce visitor, occasionally turning up in spring or autumn in small numbers and never straying far from the coast.

However, things have changed a little over the last few years with more birds arriving each year, the result of an expanding breeding population within the Netherlands. There have even been breeding attempts made here in East Anglia, though these are thought to have been unsuccessful. Thankfully, the Spoonbill has become a British breeding bird again thanks to a pair in the northwest of England which successfully fledged two young in 1999. With increasing numbers of birds arriving here we can expect to see more young Spoonbills fledging from nests over the coming years.

There is a link to Africa for our visiting Spoonbills because, even though they are birds associated with the 1,300 or so Dutch pairs, these birds are migratory and spend the winter in West Africa, favouring suitable habitats across Senegal and Mauritania. While things seem to be going well for these particular Spoonbills, breeding populations further east across Europe (in Russia and Hungary, for example) are in trouble. It is thought that land drainage and increasing levels of disturbance are behind the declines observed in these populations, prompting conservationists to highlight the difficulties that the species is facing and to direct efforts towards safeguarding their future.

Over the last two weeks there have been good numbers of Spoonbills around our coasts, with half a dozen birds loitering at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve at Cley, and others on the east coast. This seems to be a feature of visiting birds, with individuals often lingering at favoured sites for days, sometimes weeks. Slightly smaller than a Grey Heron, with their white plumage and characteristic bill, they should be unmistakable. Mind you, with the current explosion of our Little Egret population, the Spoonbills will not be the only large white birds out on the coastal pools and lagoons at the moment. The spatula shape of the bill is less obvious in flight, so look for the way in which the bird carries its head. In the Spoonbill the head is carried with the neck extended forward, while all the egrets retract their neck in the same manner as that seen in Grey Heron.