‘Bottle bump’ looks like rusty heron

11:06am Monday 17th March 2008

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THE bittern is one of our most fascinating birds, which looks very much like a heron which has become rusty.

It is found around marshes and because so many havebeen drained, this habitat has largely vanished.

The rule of nature conservation should be that we do not protect birds, but if we protect their habitat the birds will look after themselves. The RSPB have realised this and this is why their work should be supported.

Leighton Moss near Silverdale is one of the RSPB's most important reserves and this is now one of the main breeding areas for the now very rare bittern. It shares this habitat with lots of other birds and also the otter.

Over the years the bittern has been given many names, including miredrum, bog drum, bull of the mire and in our area bottle bump. This relates to the breeding call of the male - the sound can be copied by blowing hard into the neck of an empty bottle.

Scientists have found that the bittern was once abundant in Britain and in neolithic times many were preserved in the peat bogs, leaving fossils. In 1728 the poet James Thomson wrote a series of poems about the spring: