Ardea minuta Linnaeus, 1766 The little bittern (Botaurus minutus) is a wading bird in the heron family, Ardeidae.

The little bittern was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Ardea minuta.

It is the smallest of the breeding herons of Europe and is characterised by its tiny size, long and sharp bill and thick neck.

The female is duller than the male and has brownish black upperparts with paler feather margins visible at close range.

The first proven British breeding record is from Yorkshire in 1984,[9] and the second from the Avalon Marshes in Somerset in 2010, by 2017 this species had been present in this area for nine consecutive years.

It feeds on fishes, amphibians and insects which are caught within reedbeds or at their edges by the bird slowly stalking the prey.

The male claims a territory in the Spring, advertising his presence with a deep barking or croaking call and the monogamous pair remain together for at least one breeding season.

[9] In Europe the little bittern is a migratory species, crossing the Mediterranean from Africa in the early Spring and arriving in their breeding wetlands from mid April onwards.