Juvenile Little Bittern.
A trip to Titchwell rspb reserve on Saturday 10th was amazing , i was hoping to connect with 3 target birds , Little Bittern , Cattle Egret and Buff - Breasted Sandpiper and i was not disappointed , i started of first for the Little Bittern which had been seen briefly the day before and only in flight before i got there , so i thought my chances were pretty slim to be honest.
Well i could not believe my luck , i had only just settled along side the large gathered fellow birders when it appeared more or less right in front of us , what a really smart bird , it was just creeping along the reeds slowly giving us all some excellent views , in the rush of birders desperate to see it my coat and scope were lost in the crowd ( i did find them later ...lol ) being a bit short i was struggling to see over the reeds to get a better view but eventually it appeared right out in the open whilst it was moving through the reeds .
Another view of the Little Bittern.
I watched this bird for a good length of time before it moved out of sight , this was the first one i have seen since the eighties !!! I decided to move on to see if i could re locate the Cattle Egret which i needed for the year list , i walked along the main track when i saw two birders getting excited setting up there scopes as i approached them and sure enough they had re located the Cattle Egret perched in the distant dead trees the Harriers normally use.
I then moved onto the new hide at Titchwell and was soon enjoying the Buff- Breasted Sandpiper , really like these birds unfortunately it was a bit to far for a photo but great views through the scope was seen , there were Redshank , Ruff and a really smart Spotted Redshank nearby , a really great visit.
I decided to have another for the Little Bittern and would you believe it once again i more or less saw it straight away , simply stunning . I took a photo of this dragonfly , not sure what it is but very smart looking all the same .
After a little bit of research i believe the Dragonfly above is a Migrant Hawker .
Migrant Hawker
