THE BITTERN bird is getting the spotlight as Somerset Wildlife Trust launches new citizen science event which everything about the bird.

The trust have invited people to ‘listen for bittern’ across the whole of the Somerset area, this will allow the charity to learn more about the populations of bitterns and their whereabouts in Somerset.

The bittern is the loudest bird in the UK and can be heard from 3 miles away and is famous for ‘booming’ noise male bitterns make in the spring.

Interestingly, bittern were once extinct from the UK but their populations have since increased dramatically, a large amount of them now call the Somerset Levels home.

Mark Blake, Senior Reserves Manager at Somerset Wildlife Trust, says: “Somerset is home to one of the largest populations of bitterns in the country. We know these birds are present on the Somerset Levels, but if fledging successfully, they’re likely to be moving out and settling elsewhere.

“Through this project, we want to find out two things: where these birds are going, and also how many there could be in Somerset — we already conduct landscape-scale bittern surveys on the Somerset Levels, but the more data we collect on these birds, the better, and that’s why we want as many people as possible to get involved in this exciting new citizen science project!”

The project is being host by Somerset Wildlife Trust, running from March 14 to April 14 this year.

To take part, all you need to do is head over to the Somerset Wildlife Trust website and join the project, and then listen out for the bittern’s foghorn-like ‘boom’, which is the sound male bitterns make in the spring to help them attract a mate.

By sharing what you hear on iNaturalist, Somerset Wildlife Trust will be able to build up a more complete picture of Somerset’s bitterns.

You can download your free spotter guide via the Somerset Wildlife Trust website: https://www.somersetwildlife.org/project-bittern