Spoonbills return to Cambridgeshire for first time since 17th century | Birds

With their long, spoon-shaped beaks, it is perhaps no surprise that the RSPB has nicknamed the offspring of a spoonbill ‘teaspoon’.

It has been a bumper year for snow-white waders, which have been discovered nesting and breeding in Cambridgeshire for the first time since the 17th century.

Once quite common in the UK, spoonbills were occasionally seen on their migratory journey, but they no longer breed here as they were hunted for their meat and the wetland habitats in which they use their long bills to fish for prey had been destroyed.

But conservation efforts have seen their return and they are now breeding happily in a few habitat areas in England, particularly in the first place they re-established themselves, the Holkham Estate in north Norfolk, where they continue to thrive. The largest population is there, producing 90 fledglings in 2023.

The RSPB said 2024 had been a great breeding season at its reserves for these distinctive birds, particularly at Havergate Island in Suffolk and Fairburn Ings in Yorkshire. And, for the first time since the 17th century, spoonbills nested in Cambridgeshire at RSPB Ouse Washes.

Jonathan Taylor, Senior Site Manager, said: “The Ouse Washes are the perfect habitat for spoonbills and we are delighted that these birds are breeding for the first time. Although they breed later here than other spoonbills in the UK, as is often the case with new colonies, it is fantastic that this iconic and highly adapted heron species has returned and is using our wetlands again.”

Nine spoonbills have already fledged this year at RSPB Fairburn Ings, near Leeds, where spoonbills have nested for eight consecutive years.

Keeper Karen Swaffield said: “It’s incredibly exciting to have the spoonbills here, and early indications are that they’ve had another successful breeding year. We nicknamed the baby spoonbills ‘teaspoons’ in 2017 and the name has stuck. We’re delighted that the spoonbills have been here for eight years in a row, and we really hope that means they’re here to stay. If the last pair currently building their nest manage to hatch a chick, we’ll have had a record year, so we’re all excited to see what happens next.”