"I Know A Hawk From A Handsaw"

I visited the Bittern hide at Fishers Green in the Lee Valley Park this afternoon. A man getting used to his new DSLR told me that a woman had seen the bittern earlier. He left because his hands were too cold. I was on my own for a while but was then joined by David, one of the Park staff. He and his colleagues were doing a sort of bittern recce. He explained that at around 4:30 the bittern stomps around in the reeds and makes itself a platform on which to roost. We both sat there with our cameras at the ready. He went out to take a call and I was delighted to clearly see the bittern cross the channel. I got a shot but the light was very poor and consequently so was my shot. :(

The image of the heron that I have posted was taken about the same time but at a different angle. I like the out of focus reedbed background. Shakespeare's handsaw in Hamlet is a corruption of hernshaw, an old country name for the heron.