The return of the bittern?

I’m told that a bittern has been heard booming in north Co Leitrim. 

This is interesting because bitterns have been extinct in Ireland for something over a century. However, it’s not unprecedented. Bitterns still breed in a few places in Britain and, as a result of very strict conservation measures, they seem to be holding their own.

In most years one or two make it over here, but it’s normally in winter and there are no recent breeding records. And occasionally a westerly gale blows in an American bittern, a closely related and rather commoner species.