A splendid male Bittern and a female from last week
March 19th and an afternoon visit to the hide to see if any of the old Marsh Harriers had returned, to no avail, but just as the sun disappeared behind the increasing cloud cover a male Bittern appeared in a channel in front of the hide. A bit wary and watching the hide he did settle to some fishing and caught a couple of small items but then skulked off into the reed where he promptly let out some loud booms. I have only ever seen a Bittern booming once and it seems they tend to do it from thick cover so although this male reappeared a few times in the channels he always went out of sight to perform his booming. A really striking male with beautiful coloured lores and skin around the bill base which appears in my images as powder blue but through the optics it was gently tinged with mauve. And the harriers were too consumed in their antics to pick him up or there might have been some nice mobbing action to have photographed - maybe another day?
The female featured in the second section was seen last week and flew in to land near this male attarcted by his magnificent booming. She landed and ran through the reeds keen to find this stunning chap. It was one of the few times I have sene a bit of sunshine in the last few weeks.
male Bittern Botaurus stellaris Barton March 2024 - the blue facial skin around the lores is indicative of a male and this bird confirmed that by booming loudly!
female Bittern Botaurus stellaris March 2024
