Herons and Storks

Bittern (Great Bittern) Botaurus stellaris

Bitterns are rare winter visitors to the Hull area and those that do occur are more likely to be immigrants from the Continent rather than members of the tiny British breeding population. Bitterns appear to have been rare around Hull since at least the late 19^th Century; a dead bird on sale in Hull market in December 1890, presumably killed locally, was notable enough to be reported in The Naturalist. A Bittern was killed near a brick pond on the west side of Hull in November 1893 and ended up as a mounted specimen in the house of a Mr J. Hane. J. R. Lowther reported a Bittern having been shot at the side of a ditch near Beverley in late December 1899. Back then "near Beverley" could mean as far south as present day North Hull, so this record may have been in the modern day Hull area as dealt with here. The first live record, but only just, was of one picked up starving and exhausted on the shore at Paull on 12^th January 1913. A small invasion occurred during that month and five more were killed in the district of Paull alone. On 9^th March 1940 another ailing and emaciated Bittern was caught at Hedon but it died shortly afterwards. The next was seen somewhere within the city boundary on 12^th November 1966, with no exact location given. One was flushed from Saltend Marsh on 16^th February 1985 before flying off over the Humber towards Lincolnshire. Another was seen flying up the River Hull over the city on 16^th November 1991.

November to January seem to be the best months for finding a Bittern in the Hull area, with reedy or swampy areas bordering the River Hull or the Humber estuary being the most likely places. The secretive nature of the Bittern means that more must have occurred without being recorded, particularly when the species was more common in Britain during the mid 19^th Century. Indeed, it is highly likely that Bitterns bred in the carrs and marshes that covered much of the area north of 17^th and 18^th Century Hull. The name of a farm house that stood at that time, now long since gone, just north of the Hull area near Meaux paid tribute to the continuous booming of Bitterns that bred in nearby marshes. The house was called Butter-bump Hall, the term 'Butter-bump' being an old East Riding country name for the Bittern, and Nelson (1907) tells us of an old couplet that locals recited: - "When the Butter-bumps cry, Summer is nigh!"

Little Bittern Ixobrychus minutus

Nelson's The Birds of Yorkshire (1907) lists one alleged occurrence of the Little Bittern for the Hull area, with W.W. Boulton of Beverley stating in 1880 that one was killed at Cottingham "several years ago". Thomas Boynton of Bridlington bought the specimen after Boulton's death and it was in his collection up until 1905 at least, when it was reported to Nelson.

Night Heron (Black-crowned Night Heron) Nycticorax nycticorax

Night Herons are rare wanderers to Britain from their scattered colonies on the Continent and at least four have been recorded in the Hull area. The first was an immature male shot on Cottingham Common, between Cottingham and Dunswell and now covered by North Hull housing estate, by a gamekeeper called Martin way back in 1837. The specimen went into the possession of W. W. Boulton of Beverley before being bought by Sir Henry Boynton and then passing onto the Burton Agnes Museum sometime before 1907.

The next was not for another 150 years, when a second-summer bird settled at Swine from 28^th April 1987 until at least 2^nd May. Incredibly this bird was joined by a second Night Heron, in first-summer plumage, on 30^th April and one of them was still present on 7^th May. The first-summer bird was later seen at Easington and Kilnsea in May. The next Hull record, claimed on 5^th May 1990, was deemed to have been not proven by the British Birds Rarities Committee and was subsequently rejected. No exact location was given for this bird but it is probably the same undated record I have received for East Park around that time. The most recent record was beyond contention, however, when a first-summer bird was discovered roosting on an island in East Park Lake on 27^th March 1996. It is noticeable that all of the dated records have occurred between late March and early May and all have been sub-adults.

Little Egret Egretta garzetta

A Little Egret was shot near Paull in March 1826. It was later bequeathed to Chester Museum in a display case bearing the label "Shot March 1826, near Paull, Humberside, Yorkshire". The specimen was apparently forgotten about in Yorkshire until it was 'rediscovered' by Thomas Hudson Nelson at the turn of the last century. Nelson inspected the case himself and was as sure as he could be that it was a genuine Yorkshire record, with the case label apparently being written in one hand and all at one time. The dubious nature of many 19^th Century specimens, however, due to the underhand methods some early collectors employed to build their collections, meant that the origin of the Paull Little Egret was soon called into question. In 1901 J. H. Gurney wrote to The Zoologist on the subject and implied that the word 'Yorkshire' had been added to the case label at a later stage and going on to state that, in his opinion, the bird was the same one documented to have been sold at Southampton in 1826 and was probably shot there. Mather discusses these exchanges in his 1986 The Birds of Yorkshire, pointing out that whether 'Yorkshire' was added to the label at a later date or not is pretty irrelevant seeing as Paull and Humberside are definitely not near Southampton and definitely are in Yorkshire. It is hard not to agree. As there seemed to have been nothing on the case itself to suggest it was from Southampton then I think it is fair to assume that the record is genuine. This is the only record for the Hull area, though others have been seen in Yorkshire over the years and the species has recently colonised southern Britain. As the population of breeding and wintering birds increases and spreads then it seems likely that more Little Egrets will visit the Hull area sooner or later.

Grey Heron Ardea cinerea

There is no record of Herons ever having nested in the Hull area, though Nelson (1907) states that they may have nested at Swanland, just outside the range of this book, "many years ago". Writing of the birds to be seen from his garden near Pearson Park in 1901 John Nicholson mentioned that Herons were occasionally seen flying over Hull "en-route to the heronry at Wassand", this presumably being Wassand Hall at Hornsea Mere. While Herons no longer breed at Hornsea Mere a colony of around 50 birds currently nest near Driffield and this may be the source of some of the birds seen around Hull. The Grey Heron was apparently very rare in the Hull area in the 1960s, probably as a result of poisoning by the agrochemicals that had so badly affected birds of prey. Only two were seen in the first half of that decade. Numbers had recovered somewhat by the late 1970s and a few Herons could be found feeding on the tidal creeks on the Humber shore in spring and autumn. By the mid 1980s sightings were still very irregular over most of the Hull area and a pair flying north over Cottingham on 15^th July 1985 was a notable record. Birds were more frequent at Saltend Channel and, in hard weather, St. Andrew's Dock at this time with regular dawn flights of up to five birds passing over the Humber to feed on the Lincolnshire side. One or two were seen most months along the Holderness Drain at North Bransholme from 1989 and birds were only absent there during midsummer. Three were roosting in a waterlogged field nearby on 16^th August 1992, having been feeding on the spoils from dredging operations on the drain. By the late 1990s Grey Herons were being reported from many areas around Hull, with Saltend having one or more throughout the year and others seen from Victoria Dock in most months. Herons have also been recorded over East Park and at the Bransholme Sewage Works as well as from the flooded fields along Priory Road.

Although the nearest breeding site is many miles to the north it is now possible to see a Grey Heron at any time of the year except midsummer, usually in flight en-route to fishing grounds along the Humber. Increasingly the occasional Heron can also be found feeding along some of the larger drains or trying their luck at one of the several ponds, lakes or marshes scattered about the Hull area.

Purple Heron Ardea purpurea

On 15^th July 1986 A. S. Pepper reported seeing an adult Purple Heron soaring over Hedon Road before descending towards Saltend Marsh and being lost from sight. This record was never submitted to the national or local rarities committees for adjudication, and some consider it unsafe.

White Stork Ciconia ciconia

The White Stork, popular in European folklore and legend, used to breed in Medieval Britain but was driven out many centuries ago. A few wanderers from southern and central Europe are seen in Britain each year but the situation is clouded by escapees from bird gardens and wildlife parks. Most of the Hull area records have been of birds in flight, all are very recent and most possibly refer to free-flying birds from the Harewood House Bird Garden near Leeds, possibly even the same bird. On 25^th May 1998 a White Stork was seen flying over Hull and another was spotted soaring over the city on 14^th July 1999. On 19^th April 2000 an adult was observed from a garden to the west of Hull as it drifted south near the Humber Bridge. This last bird in particular spent much of the spring of 2000 touring the region and is generally thought to have had its origins at Harewood House. On 4^th April 2001 a White Stork was discovered on flooded grassland on Anlaby Common, off Hull Road. As with the other records for this species the possibility of the bird being an escapee loomed large, though it was unringed and in good condition. It was still present at dawn the next day and was watched from First Lane as it fed on frogs, but it was gone by the afternoon. Further investigation revealed that the bird might have been present since 2^nd April and its photograph appeared in many of the national birdwatching magazines the following month.