We all know what happened to the dodo, but what you might be less familiar with is the spoonbill, another feathered friend humans drove to near-extinction in the 1660s.
Spoonbills, which are named after their long, spade shaped beak, were ubiquitous across the UK from the middle ages until they became a popular game bird and had their habitats destroyed throughout the 1600s. After centuries of finding home in England, the species faded into oblivion and not a single chick grew up here for three hundred spoonless years.
That is, until now. The birds are officially back in town.
For the first time since the reign of Charles II, a colony of spoonbills has been established in Cambridgeshire. It’s at RSPB Ouse Washes reserve in the Cambridgeshire Fens, and it’s not even the only place that you can see the birds. According to the RSPB, there are an estimated 90 pairs of them scattered across the country from Norfolk to Yorkshire, with numbers growing each year.
Jonathan Taylor, who works with the RSPB at the reserve, told the BBC that ‘it is a career highlight to see spoonbills again.’
The birds, while sensitive to disturbances, ‘seem to know what they are doing,’ Taylor continued. So hopefully they will only go from strength to strength and we won’t have to mourn their extinction from our lands for a second time.
If you’d like to learn more about the black-footed creatures, including where you can see them in the flesh, you can check out the RSPB’s profile here. We’re rooting for you, little spoonbills! We can’t wait to watch you fly – both literally and metaphorically.
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