Golden Hour Goose

Homestead admin all day.  I didn't get out until the golden hour but the light was absolutely beautiful. A wise thrush was singing its song twice over as I got into the car.

I resisted the urge to go into the Bittern Hide at Fishers Green and set off around Seventy Acres Lake. I shot a heron against the light through the bushes and found a little path through them down to the water's edge. Jack took off and I didn't bother to photograph him. Then a mottled, brown, truncated bird took flight, almost at my feet. I thought at first that it was a female pheasant but then realised it was a bittern. That poor man on Countryfile last night has worked at Rutland Water for forty years, yet has failed to see one. I got a couple of so-so shots.

The lone greylag goose in my pic was a bit further along. I love how the low sun is accentuating those weird ridged feathers on its neck and burnishing its beak.

I walked the circuit of the lake and had a lovely chat with a lad who likes to get away from his college computer studies at the reserve. Got chatting to a serious bittern spotter who communicates the bird's movements to his mate by walkie-talkie. Nearly got locked in again. :)