Biggest breeding event for five years

Many thousands of lesser flamingos have flocked to Lake Natron, in Tanzania, to begin nesting in what could become the most significant breeding event for five years.

75 per cent of the world population of the birds live in East Africa and use the lake as their nesting sites. It is one of nature's "fantastic spectacles", according to Sarah Ward, a PhD student at the University of Southampton.

East Africa's lesser flamingos are nomadic and feed in a chain of alkaline soda lakes along the Rift Valley. Lake Natron, however, is the only significant nesting site and "large breeding events involving over a million flamingos are not unusual, if conditions at Lake Natron are suitable and if the flamingos are in good health," Miss Ward explained.

While monitoring numbers is difficult, initial reports suggest there are hundreds of thousands of birds flocking to the site, meaning this could be the most significant breeding attempt since 2007.