This year has been a bumper year for rare breeding birds in the Highlands, according to a charity involved in monitoring bird populations in Scotland.

The Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC) has revealed that four rare bird species bred in the Highlands this year for the first time in decades, including a species which had never successfully bred in Britain before.

The charity said that, despite poor summer weather, 2024 has been an "unusual year" for exceptionally rare breeding birds in the Highlands.

John Poyner, the Highland Bird Recorder for SOC, explained: “Highland’s wide range of habitats and unique position between northern Scandinavia and the milder south of Britain means it is superbly placed for new bird species colonising, as a result of range expansion or habitat and climate change.

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"To have three new breeders as well as one returning after over half a century in a single season is unprecedented though and highlights the importance of this region for potential colonisation by new species.”

For the first time ever in Britain, a pair of Blyth’s Reed Warblers successfully reared young, representing a westward extension of their range. This small brown bird, best identified by its song, nests in scattered bushes and woodland clearings. Its breeding range has expanded westward from Russia through Scandinavia and stray migrants are increasingly recorded in Scotland so a breeding attempt here was not entirely unexpected, according to SOC. 

Little Ringed Plovers colonised England from 1938 and Scotland from 1968 but nested in Highland for the first time this year, with their northwards expansion perhaps a result of climate change. A summer visitor to Britain, this wading bird nests on the ground on river shingles and gravel pits, habitats where sudden rises in water level or mineral extraction often cause egg loss.

Although Common Cranes may once have nested, it is only recently that there are proven Scottish breeding records, with a chick reared by a pair this year being a first for the Highland recording area.

Meanwhile, European Nightjars formerly nested widely in open woodland across Scotland but for unknown reasons had disappeared as a breeding bird in Highland by the 1970s. SOC said a nesting pair this year is a "welcome return".