In may, the dawn chorus is in full swing, making this a rewarding time of day to visit a reedbed reserve.
Well before first light, the air will already be noisy with the incessant chattering of sedge and reed warblers, the explosive staccato song of Cetti’s warblers, and, if you’re lucky, the metronomic calling of cuckoos.
But the bird everyone wants to hear – and ideally see – is the king of the reedbed, the bittern.
The male bittern’s song is a foghorn-like boom, produced by inflating its oesophagus to make a sort of echo chamber. Often compared to the sound you make when blowing across the neck of an empty glass bottle, the noise carries a long way due to its low frequency.
This song, which can be heard up to 5km away, is performed to attract mates and ward off other males.
Famously elusive, bitterns are surveyed by counting the booming males at dawn each May.
The species was near-extinct in the UK by the 1990s, but recent surveys have detected a spectacular comeback, with 283 ‘boomers’ heard in 2024 – a record.
Top image credit: imageBROKER/Christian Kosanetzky/Getty Images
More amazing wildlife stories from around the world
- Oregon’s biggest city was drowning in crow poop. Then a new predator came to town
- "Incredibly emotional." Red-and-green macaws return to Brazil’s Atlantic Forest after 200-year absence
- A great predator has returned the towering cliffs of Yosemite National Park
- Great crested grebe seen drowning and eating chiffchaffs in Spain
