22 February 2011 Last updated at 10:53

Jersey wetland area attracting rare birds

St Ouen's Pond has been attracting a wide range of bird species

A wetland area in Jersey has seen an increase in the number of rare birds visiting after countryside experts built a network of water channels.

Wildlife experts have been watching the birds on four hidden cameras in St Ouen's Pond to avoid causing an impact on their habitat.

Among the birds spotted are a heron, a waterbill and four bitterns.

There are only 150 bittern's throughout Britain in the winter and four have been spotted in Jersey.

Jon Horn, from the National Trust for Jersey, said: "There is a lot of activity going on, they are very happy feeding away in the reed bed here, they are showing behaviour we didn't know about before and they are swimming away in the channels.

St Ouen's pond is run by the National Trust for Jersey

"They haven't started thinking about nesting here but they do seem very happy during the winter time."

The images from the cameras allow the team to decide whether they need to redesign the reed beds to attract more bird species.

Mr Horn said: "These are very important tools for us because it shows what is here in Jersey, it shows Jersey's nature reserves are attracting very rare species.

"This has an economic impact in that people might come here on holiday to try and watch these birds."

St Ouen's Pond is a nature reserve within St Ouen's Bay run by the National Trust for Jersey.

The pond, otherwise known as La Mare au Seigneur, Jersey French for 'the pond of the Seigneur (local noble)' features open water, a reed-bed, fen, wet meadows, dune grasslands and scrub.