Western reef heron spotted in UK for first time
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- Western reef heron was spotted at Foryd Bay in north Wales before flying to nearby Caernarfon harbour to feed among boats, in what is believed to be the first UK sighting of the tropical species typically found between west Africa and India.
- Nick Moran of the British Trust for Ornithology said the bird's ability to reach and survive in the UK is likely due to increasingly mild winters, as shallow water bodies no longer freeze over with any regularity as they did 50 years ago.
- Alexander Lees of Manchester Metropolitan University described the herons as the latest of 'formerly largely tropical species whose distributions are shifting north with climate change,' citing last year's first UK breeding record of the zitting cisticola, a Mediterranean warbler sensitive to harsh winters.
- The BTO noted a squacco heron, a rare species usually found in southern Europe and north Africa, is also drawing birdwatchers to Lincolnshire this week, with the species seen in the UK only a few times a year.
- Western reef herons have been increasingly recorded in southern Europe including Spain and France and had been expected to reach the UK, according to Lees, while other recent tropical visitors include the black-winged kite (first UK visit 2023, seen in Norfolk this year), the brown booby (2019), and the white-rumped swift (2018).
- Moran said the bird is an adult that likely arrived from Europe rather than directly from Africa and could even have hatched in Europe, adding that more sightings are likely but he does not expect 'dozens' by this time next year.
Why it matters: For UK birdwatchers and ecologists, the sighting marks a tangible milestone in climate-driven biodiversity shifts, with the species' established presence in Spain and France signaling the UK is the next frontier in a northward range expansion. The adult bird's potential European origin means the colonization is already underway rather than a one-off vagrant occurrence, with the RSPB having already called similar sightings of European bee-eaters an 'unmissable sign' of the nature and climate emergency in Britain.
