Hide and Seek

As promised in my last post this one will be about the bittern that Paul and I had gone to see earlier in the week at Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve. The bitterns ,two in number, had been showing well the previous afternoon but during our visit only one bird was on view. I say on view but it was extremely difficult to see the bird as it skulked in the reed bed.

The Rufford Hide was busy with birdwatchers and photographers all hoping for a sighting of the elusive bittern.Everyone struggled to find the bird and if you looked away it was extremely difficult to spot it again.Paul and I stayed for a couple of hours or so and we did manage to get a few shots of the bird. In all the reedbed shots above there is in fact a bittern lurking.It shows what wonderful camouflage the bittern has and when it extends it's neck and points it's bill skywards it is almost invisible.

In some of the images above the bittern is fairly obvious but in others your eyesight will be tested to see the bird. I have also shown a couple of images of goosanders ,a party of which were patrolling the lakes,a male with his colourful plumage and the female with her nice hairdo.Hope you enjoy the images and marvel at the fantastic cryptic plumage of the bittern. Thanks for looking.