Rejoice! The bittern is better!

Exciting news!

"Staff from Lee Valley Regional Park have today released a rare Bittern back into the wild at Seventy Acres Lake in the Regional Park. The bird had been rescued by Park Rangers on Wednesday (14th) last week when it was spotted by concerned bird watchers close to the Bittern Information Point (BIP) at Fishers Green.

At first worried Rangers thought the bird might be injured, but close inspection revealed the bird was hungry and weak, but not injured.

The Bittern was taken into the care of experts for rehabilitation before being returned to the wild, which successfully happened at 10:30am today. Prior to release the bird was ringed so that its progress can be tracked and we can learn a bit more about these elusive birds. On release the Bittern walked slowly off into the nearby reedbeeds exhibiting a normal threat posture."