Bittern  (Botaurus stellaris)

Learn about the scientific name of this species and how it fits into the tree of life at Nature Navigator.

Range

Bitterns breed throughout Europe, North Africa and central Asia but in Britain they are confined to very few sites, most in East Anglia and Lancashire.

You can view distribution information for this species at the National Biodiversity Network Gateway.

Habitat

Across most of their range, bitterns are a bird of shallow reed beds although in central Europe they breed in swamps dominated by reed mace or common bulrush. Bitterns need large, extensive areas of managed reed bed with shallow pools or dyke edges in which to hunt fish. Lack of suitable management allows scrub to develop and leads to reed beds drying out, one of the reasons that is thought to have led to the decline in bittern numbers in the UK.

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