Bittern

I headed back up to The Loons in Birsay for another attempt at the bittern seen there. After just 30 minutes or so I saw it across from the hide in the reeds. This is as good a (cropped) shot as I could manage. Only at home could I see that it is eating a large eel. Perhaps the large meal is why it then did not prove very active, and it did not emerge from the reeds at all. A couple of other birders turned up and I was able to point it out to them but it was really barely viewable in the reeds with its cryptic camouflage.  Other birds- hen harrier, 52 Greenland White-fronted geese, golden plover etc..