The RSPB says the success at Blacktoft Sands is down to 25 years of reedbed management.

A nature reserve in East Yorkshire has seen a resurgence in numbers of a rare bird that nearly disappeared from the UK.

RSPB Blacktoft Sands, in Goole, has experienced a record year in the breeding of bearded tits, also known as “beardies”, which came dangerously close to extinction in the UK in the 1940s.

Around 120 pairs of the small, reedbed bird produced 500 young last year at the reserve – more than double the breeding success rate of previous years.