A CONSERVATION organisation has bought an island on the River Ouse in East Yorkshire for £47,000.

The RSPB has bought the 19-acre Hook Island near Goole, home to grey herons raising chicks during the spring, and to golden plovers and lapwings during the winter.

Little egrets, a rare type of heron, are sometimes seen there and the RSPB, which bought the site with help of a grant from the Banister Charitable Trust, hopes they may eventually form a breeding colony.

RSPB Humber Sites manager Pete Short said development was threatening the Humber Estuary and said: “Through buying Hook Island, we can help protect this special place and make it an even better home for nature.”