Booming bittern at record numbers, says RSPB

Britain's loudest bird, the bittern, is booming with its population at a high since records began, according to conservationists.

The wetland bird was extinct in the UK, but this year numbers are up.

Success stories include populations at the Somerset Levels (up two to 49 males) and at Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk (eight males, where there were none until the reserve was created 20 years ago).

But the charity said there had been a slight drop in numbers across East Anglia as a whole.