Bittern

When Lawrie casually mentioned in his blip of 5th December that he'd seen a Bittern on the very day that I'd been out specifically looking for one and failed, I felt a wee bit miffed.

We actually live in an area that's really good for wintering Bitterns, within twenty miles there's probably about six sites where you have a good chance of seeing one, however I've never seen one and Mrs L has seen something flying at Minsmere once that she was told was a Bittern. The trouble is they are very secretive birds, skulking away in reedbeds and even when they show at the edge of the reeds as you can see they are perfectly camouflaged.

So when we arrived at RSPB's reserve at Rye Meads and heard there were two seen yesterday from the Gadwall hide that's where we headed. Initially no sign at all, then the one pictured appeared and for about a minute we watched it in and out of the reeds as it headed away from us towards a patch of open water. That turned out to be the closest view of the day, but perseverance over the next hour and a half gave us excellent glimpses of two separate birds and the territorial interaction when they came across each other. An excellent ninety minutes that only the penetrating cold called a halt to - magic.

So there you are Mr Lawrie - TWO Bitterns, oh and a Grey Heron too.

View in Large - I insist.