Saturday 16 June 2012

More gratuitous Little Bittern photography

There has already been a considerable surge in the number of Mistle Thrush Little Bittern photos on the net this weekend, due to the presence of a rather showy bird along the River Colne, near Rickmansworth on the edge of London. But I make no apologies for posting a load more – it’s a great bird!

Initially, views were largely obscured by vegetation, and even when you knew roughly where it was, it could seemingly vanish at will.

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Several times, it would reach the edge of the reeds, almost showing in the open – before running across the gap and disappearing again!

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On a couple of occasions, when a Moorhen swam past rather close, it stood stock-still with neck extended and bill raised – the “bitterning” posture.

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Over the course of two or three hours, we watched it feeding voraciously on small fish and damselflies – on one occasion, taking a minute or two out to deal with a rather larger fish (perhaps Roach or Perch?) before despatching it:

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And when it did occasionally come right out into the open, views were superb at no more than 20m distance across the river!

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An excellent bird – and (given the lack of anything much else about) a fairly popular one! Cheers to Paul, Jono and Henry for company on a leisurely summer twitch, and good to see lots of familiar faces in the crowd: Dom M, Martin Reds, Messrs Croft & Fisher and Tony B, Roy W & Dave H, Adrian K & Andy F, Joan T, Mark R, Jake E, and I’m sure plenty more that I’ve forgotten…

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