Once Bittern...

The problem with bitterns is that you wait months for them to appear and then five turn up at once.  A bit like blog posts, in fact, but I've been snowed under with RPS and Cambridge Camera Club work since before Christmas and have only just come up for air.

The sun was shining today, so I decided to head to the RSPB reserve at Lakenheath Fen.  As mentioned earlier, bitterns were more plentiful than I've ever seen them there, and it was wonderful to hear their booming in the background.  I even managed to grab a picture of one flying, which was a real treat.

The coots were very busy feeding their young, and I spent a long time watching them while waiting for the next bittern to turn up.

There was also a family of great crested grebes.  The mother (too distant for an acceptable photograph) had a couple of youngsters on her back, and the father was out catching fish for his growing brood.

There were also quite a few reed buntings around (and, allegedly, a mash warbler, although I never saw it).  Also unphotographed were cuckoos (loads calling, but none to be seen) and hobbies (too distant).

More Lakenheath Wildlife

Well, maybe not proper wildlife, but Homo photographicus instead.  Always a good subject when nothing else is available...

Lakenheath Wildlife

A couple of weeks ago, a small band of hardy nature photographers from the RPS headed out to the RSPB Reserve at Lakenheath Fen.  Being "Flaming June" the weather was cold, wet, cloudy and windy.  Perfect weather for photographing wildlife, in other words (not).

On the plus side, the conditions meant that there were lots of snails in evidence.

A longhorn beetle...

...and a couple more snails.

While the weather might not have been at its best for photography, we couldn't complain about the wildlife on show.  A couple of kingfishers were busy in the area where we based ourselves, and then someone spotted a bittern right at the other end of the lake.  It's a golden rule of bird photography that the subject is either too far away or moving too fast (or both) and this specimen was no exception.  The following sequence are virtually 100% crops of images taken with a 300/2.8 and 2x converter at around ISO 2000.

The bittern was minding its own business, having a good preen.

Although it had taken a while for us to spot the bittern, a swan saw it immediately and took exception to its presence, making a bee-line for its hiding place.

There followed a bit of a staring match...

...and then then the bittern decided that enough was enough.

Not great pictures, but an amazing piece of nature.

Speaking of "not great pictures", here's another rubbish shot of a kingfisher hovering.  Again, a 100% crop with the subject about half a mile away (well, that's what it felt like, anyway).

Slightly better, here is a female reed bunting on a stick (where else?).

Not a great day, photographically speaking, but definitely one of my better nature days having never seen a bittern before (always heard, never seen).