Hickling Nature Reserve

It is not the best of nature photos but it's the best I could do with a 55mm lens! A lovely afternoon with Hanne Lene at Hickling Nature Reserve and one of the few habitats of the Swallowtail butterfly. This specimen was attracted by the yellow rapeseed flowers and we were lucky to see another sunning itself in the reedbeds.
We had a lovely half hour in the Bittern Hide watching a white egret, some Greylag Geese with goslings and a Marsh Harrier, which alighted on the ground quite close to us. I thought I heard a bittern booming but Hanne Lene thought it was a donkey braying! Since we only heard it the once, there was no opportunity to check our first impressions. Anyway definitely a bittern
.