Bittern makes bed at Nosterfield

868 Tarmac is celebrating the return of bitterns to its Nosterfield Quarry in North Yorkshire, UK following work to create reed beds at the site.

The company first recorded the birds – which are on both the RSPB’s and the 1778 International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) ‘Red List’ of most endangered species - at the quarry’s Flasks Lakes in 2009.  Tarmac worked with local conservation specialists to plant the reed beds which have played a key role in attracting the rare species to the quarry.

David Greaves, a volunteer observer who has been monitoring the bittern on behalf of the RSPB since the birds first arrived in 2009, said, “It is very significant indeed to have bittern in this area – particularly as the site is so far inland. The reed beds at Nosterfield were planted with the specific objective of attracting this species, and this plan has worked.”