Beautiful wading bird driven to extinction in 17th century spotted in Derbyshire

Bird enthusiasts have been thrilled to hear that a spoonbill was spotted at Ogston Reservoir in Derbyshire on July 21.

Spoonbills, named after their spatula-like bill, are rare wading birds which were a familiar sight across England back in the 16th century.

Unfortunately, the draining of the Fens and hunting drove them to extinction in the UK for over 300 years – when they did not breed naturally, with the last nesting spoonbill seen in 1668.

In 2010, after 342 years, the first regular colony of Spoonbills settled down at the Holkham Nature Reserve in Norfolk.

Nick Brown, Wildlife Enquiries Officer at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust (DWT) said: “We are absolutely thrilled to hear that Spoonbill has been sighted again here in Derbyshire.

"The first sighting was recorded on 21st July at Ogston Reservoir, and there was a sighting in Kings Newton in May. Prior to this, there was a sighting in 2023 at Carsington and we were delighted to record them at our Willington Wetlands Nature Reserve in October 2022.

“Only by creating more bigger, better and connected habitats for wildlife will we be able to encourage more species to return here.

"At Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, we’re excited to be working on an ambitious plan to halt and reverse declining native species abundance across the county and we look forward to more Spoonbill sightings being recorded and seeing more species return to our landscape in the future.”