It being a bank holiday, I spent the morning at the Wetland and Wildlife Trust reserve at Welney, and was well rewarded for my efforts.
There were eight cranes, and a spoonbill, but all of them out of camera range.
And then there was a bittern, which is one of UK's most elusive resident birds, usually skulking out of sight in reed beds. We saw it once from the main hide, but then walked further north, and it flew in right in front of us and, quit bizarrely, landed on some reeds, which is odd for such a big bird.
I grabbed what I had to take a picture, which was my phone, and this is it:
That is not the world's best photo, but any photo of a bittern is good and I was chuffed with this.
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Buy me a coffee!
Good to see you taking some time off to enjoy nature. I hope you switched off all your devices so you can enjoy the rest of the day, or even the whole weekend!
No chance of that
Aye, take a break and on Sunday, leave the stone till Tuesday.
You lucky sod!
I’ve only ever heard one – could not see it for toffee – when out fishing with my Dad as boy somewhere in Nottinghamshire once a long time ago. He knew what it was for sure.
I was smug about that one. The hope is it is here to breed. They did last year
You’re chuffed?
I hate to say this, but a chuff is a different bird altogether
I know. I finally saw one last year to complete my UK corvids
I saw my first Bittern back in the 1950s – we were in a small open sailing boat on a Norfolk River and very little wind – maybe we heard that ‘boom’ first – then there it was amongst the reeds – motionless with neck extended and head and beak pointed up – no photos – just the memory.
Beak pointing uop was seen seevral times today
Lovely birds, and much rarer when you saw that one. They are still rare but are a success story.
Wicken Fen is the first place mentioned in this article
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/mar/28/family-spring-days-out-uk
It is near us, but not nearly as good as Welney IMO
Go Richard!<p>
Saw a bittern at Fishers Green near Waltham Abbey years ago – one of the highlights of my very intermittent bird watching career. It was only 3 or 4 yards from the hide – and long enough for me to learn and later imitate its high-step walk in the shallow water by the reeds<p>
Bach St Matthew Passion today – keeps one in touch with fundamentals – life, death etc
I like he St Matthew Passion. I went to a poor St John’s this week
Which do you you prefer? – the St Matthew or the St John? I will keep in my memory the ENO (year 2000) St John Passion with Mark Padmore (Evangelist) – Deborah Warner directed – Jesus was sung by Paul Whelan – Pilate sung by David Kempster – towards the end – ‘Ah! Lord when my last end is come, bid angels bear my spirit home to Abr’hams bosom going’ I requested as the ‘exit music for my Father’s funeral – my sisters allowed me free reign on that!! I remember Mark Padmore stepping forward after the first night in February 2000 at ENO – (Mark is a commited Christian) to tell me that my Father would have been watching it from ‘on high’ – I made contact with Mark recently/a few years later in Buxton to say ‘thank you’ for those very kind and meaningful words – how much of real christianity by whatever name, is truly in our lives now? That was a ‘good’ St John’s – equalled by some excellent jazz/northern blues/local young talent last evening — I am in awe of all the talent — over 2 evenings (in Buxton) 493 youngsters performed on the Opera House stage (in groups – not all at once!!)- using the Opera House young talent for the technical bits – all from local dance schools and from local primary and secondry schools – the previous evening (in the smaller theatre) Peak District Music Centres annual gala concert — but so little music (&etc) now taught in schools — and using the ‘in house’ technical young talent — —
For me it is not a question of either /or. I watched a passionless Passion. That was the problem. How is that possible, was my question.
[…] was apparent from the post I made here yesterday about seeing a bittern at the WWT Welney bird reserve, near where I live, I did take time off […]