Thrice Bittern

Knowing that we are due some wet weather, I made the effort to get up early this morning so as to be on the Somerset Levels by dawn.  As it turned out, that meant scraping ice off the car as the temperature was below zero and there had been a frost.  As I got out of the car shortly after 7am the ground was white and there was a fair amount of mist.  At this point I realised that I probably should have worn my lined winter trousers, as it was cold - definitely a must for next time.  

I was starting to think that I could perhaps have had a little more time in bed, when the bird activity started up in earnest and I knew that I'd made the right decision.

The trust running the reserve had undertaken some reed clearance, in one particular area they have left a flattened area to act as a short shore-line, which was a big improvement on my last visit.  As a result there were great white egrets and herons aplenty.  But what made my day, was the arrival of a bittern and about half an hour after that bittern moved on, the arrival of a second bittern.  I've never seen bitterns so clearly and for so long.

All in all, that gave me a tremendous opportunity to observe and photograph a bird that is very rarely seen.  I've given you 3 shots, one of the first bird in flight, when it was still a bit misty.  I liked the light on the bird against the misty shadowed background.

The next shot is of the second bird stalking through the reeds, which illustrates just how well camouflaged they are, even when in motion.  Notice how the bird's legs are exactly the same green as some of the reeds.

The final shot is of the bird fluffing itself up to make itself as large as possible to deter a potential threat - in this case great white egret had just landed near-ish to the bittern and needed to be deterred from poaching.

I'm down to my last 7 extras after today's entry, but I think they are due to refill soon, so I'm hoping that I won't actually need to go back through my entries for the last year to remove any shots.  If I manage those 7 extras it will be the first time I've ever actually used them all.