19.03.2026 - Indoor Meeting : Spoonbills

Speaker: Andy Bloomfield
Report: Steph Plaster

Another large gathering of WVBS members and guests were treated to an amazingly informative talk by Andy Bloomfield, the Senior Warden at Holkham NNR. Andy is Holkham born and bred and his in- depth knowledge of the area and its wildlife, in particular Spoonbills, was clear for all to see. This species is a success story and we certainly need these at the present time when nature and wildlife are suffering major declines all across the UK and beyond.

Andy gave us the history of the species in England with references to Medieval writings detailing locations where the bird was believed to have been present and presumably breeding. These areas were located on the South Coast and in East Anglia, including Norfolk and Suffolk. He showed a slide of a carving of a Spoonbill on a misericord (below left -note the ‘bustle’) in St Peter’s and St Paul’s church in Lavenham in Suffolk and another of the Reedham village sign (below right) that depicts both Heron and Spoonbill. This is an interesting local link with a bird that last bred in England in around 1668 and was hunted into extinction for both it’s head plumes and because it was eaten at banquets (particularly in Hunstanton apparently by the Le Strange family!) Habitat loss in the Fens with wholescale land drainage also contributed to the demise of this species as a breeding bird here. But luckily for us after an absence of almost 400 years it’s here hopefully to stay this time.
The Spoonbill is a large bird up to three feet tall with a wingspan of around four feet and has a distinct bill that sets it apart from other species - as the name suggests it is ‘spoon-shaped’ and, Andy explained, around nine inches in length, although in the field it seems much longer! It feeds by immersing this bill into brackish pools, searching around for prey items including prawns, shrimps, shore crabs, eels and small fish such as sticklebacks and gobies. The bill is then tilted up (bit like a pelican) to catch and swallow them. The bill contains small spikes or sensory serrations along the length to assist with catching prey. It is also used to defend territory and for fighting and consequently can sometimes have chunks missing!
Holkham became a National Nature Reserve (NNR) in 1967 and the estate carried out extensive wetland management work to provide breeding and feeding grounds for waders and other wetland birds. This work ultimately led to recolonisation of Spoonbills here in 2004, with the first breeding noted in 2010. Andy explained how the topography of this site accommodates this enigmatic species. It includes an Iron Age hill fort and an old ‘duck decoy’- a wooded area containing poplars and willows which provide ideal nesting sites for the birds, surrounded with channels and ponds to deter predators. This secluded part of the estate provides a safe area and is like a ‘protective microclimate’ for the birds away from exposure to the very cold and windy North Sea. 
Grey herons were the first species to nest here and where there is a heronry other species follow.
As much of the Holkham reserve is on private land it offered a secluded site where there was no disturbance from the public and Little egrets also started to breed here in 2002. Cattle egrets and Cormorants also nest in this area too - but according to Andy, the Cormorants are causing a bit of an issue as they produce copious amounts of guano, which is acidic, and many of the trees here are now dying or already dead and as such are of no use for nesting Spoonbills, Egrets or Herons. ​Although Spoonbills arrived at Holkham in 2004 and started nest building, no young were produced
until 2010 when six pairs managed to produce ten young. Andy monitors the site from his truck so as not to disturb the birds and they also use a drone to look into the densely wooded area to see into the nests. Spoonbills don’t mate for life; they have a very complex courting and mating ritual whereby the male stakes a claim on a particular patch of a tree or shrub and carries out an ‘advertising display’ to find a mate. It will deter other males who may want to encroach on the patch and also, at first,
aggressively chase off the females. They perform a display flight and raise their crests to make them look larger; fighting similar to fencing can occur between rival males which can lead to damaged bills or other injuries, especially as the birds whack each other across the head with their large bills.
Once all this aggressive activity has ceased the males accept the females and nest building commences; they will build a nest and add vegetation to it throughout the breeding season, sometimes stealing nest material from other nests, particularly from Cormorants. Both male & female
birds incubate the eggs, two being the usual number laid although Andy has seen up to four, which are laid over a few days so the eggs hatch at different times. This takes between 22 and 31 days with an average of around 27.3 days and the newly hatched young make a trilling sound.
The young birds are fed a regurgitated soup by the parents and at around 43 days they are fully fledged but they are dependent on the adults for another two months or so after that. Large crèches can form
whereby 3 or 4 adult birds will look after a large group of juvenile birds. Stiffkey Fen is a good place to spot a gathering of young birds. Young Spoonbills have an orangey bill after hatching which then turns darker - but this then changes to a pinkish colour at the tip which can be noted in the field. Other places along the coast to see Spoonbills are at RSPB Titchwell, RSPB Snettisham pits and the NWT Cley reserve. They do not carry out any ringing at Holkham to avoid disturbance, but they have seen plenty of Dutch ringed birds here. One particular bird with yellow and green rings, known as ‘Canary One’ for obvious reasons, was born in Holland and seen in various places for around ten years or so including it was spotted in Suffolk and Poole Harbour in winter.
We are often asked at Cley reserve ‘Where do Spoonbills go in winter?’ and luckily Andy covered this in the talk by explaining what is known, although much more research is needed into this aspect of the bird’s life. They do know that some birds spend the winter on the south coast around Poole
Harbour, while other birds will head off from Dorset to France, then fly down to Spain and even migrate as far as Morocco and West Africa. Hopefully more research work on their migration routes is possible, perhaps they can satellite tag them as with Cuckoos?
According to Andy there are now at least 15 nesting sites in the UK and they can be seen much further north at reserves such as Fairburn Ings in Yorkshire and The Ribble Estuary in Lancashire. He reckons that this year there could be up to 100 pairs nesting in the UK and producing around 200 or so young. 
Andy summed up by saying that from the initial 6 pairs in 2010 at Holkham they have now increased to 46 pairs in 2023 and from the first colonisation and successful breeding they think around 748 birds have fledged here. This is an impressive number especially considering the species was extinct in the UK for over 300 years.
As to whether Holkham has reached its peak for this bird only time will tell as there are many factors that will determine whether or not more are able to breed and find adequate nest sites and feeding areas here. They are actively looking at ways to create more wooded zones on the grazing marshes that will, hopefully, be suitable as additional nest sites.
One innovative development at Holkham this year is the introduction of remote controlled cameras that have been positioned in the decoy wood during winter. The cameras will provide a live- feed on YouTube so that the public can see, for the first time, Spoonbill nests and young. The channel goes live on the 1st April and Andy is hoping that the public will engage with it and report back to Holkham anything of interest they see. [Now live on YouTube & Instagram].
In all it was a really fascinating talk from an experienced and hugely knowledgeable warden and I think that we all learnt a great deal about this wonderful bird. Plus It’ll be good to see if any are spotted here during the WVBS field trip to Holkham which took place on 28th March.