A stately bird returns

The news that at least four pairs of Spoonbills have bred successfully in North Norfolk this summer is extremely exciting. Although not completely unexpected, with increasing numbers of birds now recorded annually and with successful breeding having taken place elsewhere in the country, it is still staggering to think that this is the largest breeding colony seen in Britain for more than 300 years. Reliable information on the former status of the species within Norfolk is rather hard to come by but it seems certain that Spoonbills once bred at Claxton, Reedham and Cantley, probably up until the mid-seventeenth Century. The loss of coastal lagoons to land reclamation may have been one reason for their disappearance from the county’s breeding avifauna.

These elegant and distinctive birds add a taste of the exotic to some of our shallow coastal pools, especially at this time of the year, when many immature birds are moving away from their breeding colonies. The characteristic spoon-shaped bill, which gives the bird its name, is held slightly open when feeding. By sweeping the bill from side to side the bird can filter out invertebrates, small fish and other prey. This method of feeding requires shallow water, of a fairly even depth, and with a bottom of mud, silt or fine sand. This is why the best places to see these birds within the county are the coastal lagoons at Cley, Titchwell and Salthouse.

The presence of our expanding population has its origins in the successful Dutch colonies, which have also been increasing over recent years. This increase, also witnessed in the Spanish population, is in contrast to the significant declines seen in other parts of Europe, notably Russia and Austria. Spoonbills are migratory in habits, retreating south to wintering grounds located across West Africa, and they tend to leave our shores during late August and September. They are also surprisingly mobile birds, moving between different feeding sites on a daily basis and with immature birds moving between breeding colonies and wide spatial scales. For example, an individual that was ringed as a chick in a Dutch colony in May 1988, was later seen in France in September of that year, then at a breeding colony in Italy in May 1991, before turning up at Hickling in August 1992.

It seems likely that the Spoonbill population in Britain has reached the point where it can now consolidate its toehold into more widespread colonisation. It will be following in the footsteps of another recent colonist, namely the Little Egret, and there is every chance that it will become an equally familiar sight around the Norfolk coast over the years ahead. It will be a truly welcome return for this stately bird.

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.