Surfbirds News

A pair of these elegant birds - named for their bizarre spatula-like bills - have raised and fledged three chicks on Kirkcudbright Bay in Dumfries and Galloway.

It is only the second time the species has bred in the UK after a pair nested successfully in 1998. This was the first successful UK breeding attempt for 330 years.

Spoonbills © Steve Valentine, from the surfbirds galleries

The birds were discovered by Keith Kirk, a countryside ranger for Dumfries and Galloway Council, after a tip-off from local contact Gary McKie, who runs wildlife watching boat trips into the bay and up the River Dee.

With pure white plumage, lanky dark legs and their long, bizarre-shaped bills, the birds make a rare and arresting sight on the mudflats and marshes of British wetlands and lagoons. They use the bill to feed - sweeping it back and forth with the bill slightly open, it filters out small invertebrates, crustaceans, amphibians and small fish disturbed from the sediment by vigorous paddling of their feet.

There are normally about 75 records of the species in the UK a year, but these are usually non-breeding birds and confined to coastal sites in north west and south west England, and East Anglia. They can nest on the ground or in trees, and tend to stay close to related species including herons and egrets.

Keith Kirk said: 'There was one adult bird in early June, then another joined it in the couple of weeks following that. Now they have been seen with three juveniles. We have taken a boat out and watched them, and two of youngsters were coming in behind the adults, clattering their bills and begging to be fed, and one of the adults appeared to turn round and give it a feed. We haven't seen the nest, as it's a very secluded and inaccessible area, but with the way they were behaving I'm sure this is a successful breeding attempt, which is brilliant news for us.'

He added: 'In the past Dumfries and Galloway has probably not been everyone's first thought for wildlife watching in Scotland, but this just goes to show what an amazing spectacle is on offer here. We haven't got capercaillie, ptarmigan or crested tit, but pretty much everything else Scotland has to offer in terms of great wildlife is all here'.

Chris Rollie, RSPB Scotland's area manager for Dumfries and Galloway, said: 'A pair of spoonbills attempted to nest at our Mersehead reserve about 20 miles east down the Solway coast in 2000, but they didn't produce any eggs, so it's absolutely fantastic that they've now managed to succeed and have produced three healthy chicks that have fledged.

'It is quite likely that this pair's breeding success has been helped by the fact that spoonbills are listed on Annex 1 of the Birds Directive, giving them and their wetland habitats extra protection. This has probably been a factor in allowing the nearest large colony in Holland to expand in both its size and range, and we are now seeing the first benefits of this in Scotland. It's just superb news.'

It is likely that, after moving round Dumfries and Galloway, the birds will then migrate south, perhaps back to Holland or southern Europe and north Africa, where they will spend the winter before hopefully returning back to Kirkcudbright to breed again next year.

Before their extinction in the UK, nearly 350 years ago, spoonbills were reasonably widespread in southern England and Wales.