Back garden Bittern

Got a phone call this afternoon:

"I've got a Bittern in my garden"

And the gentleman did have! His garden backs on to the river Ivel at Langford and this amazing creature has been parading around his garden for around a week giving magnificent views. There are certainly perks to being the county recorder, at least sometimes.

Sprats

Bittern eating sprats from Steve Blain on Vimeo.

In times of hard weather its been recommended to provide fish for wintering Bitterns. As most water bodies in Bedfordshire have been totally frozen over in recent weeks, Stewartby Lake has remained the only place with free water. Consequently there are six Bitterns wintering there!

Neil Wright and Roy Nye have been proving sprats for a while now and I managed to capture one bird taking them. At least they are surviving the monster freeze.

Not your average Bittern

Bittern at Minsmere from Steve Blain on Vimeo.

Even though I'd seen the Lesser Kestrel a mile or so away, this was the best bird of the day for me. Bittern, Island Mere, Minsmere, 31st March 2010. Some of my images can be found in this post.

Boom! Shake, shake, shake the room

Bittern, Minsmere, Suffolk, 31st March 2010. A fitting finale to a superb early spring days birding on the Suffolk coast. Lesser Kestrel, Great Grey Shrike, Pallid Swift, Alpine Swift, Black Redstart, 3 Firecrests, 10 White Wagtails, Water Pipit, 16+ Med Gulls, and this bird can't be bad...