A drizzly morning so I decided to head back to the hides at Blashford and another chance to get better views of the Bitterns, yes there are two there now. I walked from the car park with the news that no Bittern had showed yet this morning, but I was a little more confident as I had the thermal imager.
It was rammed in the car park and I could only get a seat at the back of the hide, but was able to walk around and view the reed bed. Nothing on the right hand side, but I found an image on the left side, pretty much in the same place I had found one on Saturday. I watched the image and was confident it was a Bittern and eventually was able to see it through the bins. It then moved out of view and I lost it. Then another Bittern was located on the right hand side, again though not showing well enough for any photographs.
Then a little later there was an amazing five minutes in the hide. First the Kingfisher appeared, perched on one of the reedmace heads, but I couldn't get through the scrum to get a photograph. Then the Bittern on the left flew up and across the reeds in front of the hide. I wasn't prepared and I doubt I would have got through the scrum to get to the window. But I did see where it landed, close to the other bird and in the reeds. The quality of photograph not much better that on Saturday.
Then the reason why the Bittern flew out became clear as an Otter appeared in the left hand channel, chewing on, what looked like, a small Tench.
There were reeds in the way but I did manage to get what I consider to be my best photographs of Otter.
It was a fight for space in the hide with window access prime real estate so it was a full on fight to be able to get a clear view, unfortunately the reeds wouldn't move so they crept across the head and body.
It is still evidence of a fantastic view of an enigmatic british mammal, one that many have yet to see in the county.
I am not sure of the age but the broad head might indicate this is amle. Possibly one of the cubs seen with the mother last september from Ivy Lake South.
Sightings have significantly increased since last autumn and hopefully they will continue to do so.
The Otter then dived and you could follow it in the water by the trail of bubbles on the surface. This time coming up with a reed stem draped across the muzzle.
It gradually made its way to the back of the inlet, but kept a check on th enoisy occupants of the hide.
The last view I had of it before it dived once more and seemingly swam away through the reeds.
The hope was that the Bitterns would return, but there were no thermal images within the reeds. Eventually I decided to go and walk some other areas of the reserve. I went around Ivy Lake and then along the causeway that goes between Ivy Lake and Rockford Lake. In the wooded area there were wild Daffodils now in flower.
I found the female Red-crested Pochard at the back of Rockford Lake then went to the new screen to sit and have some lunch. The view across the water here of the north hide also shows the amount of reed bed away to the left where the Bitterns could hide, well out of sight.
After lunch I walked to the Goosander hide where there were no duck at all. I then walked to the Tern hide, the water levels in the car park having dropped since the weekend. Once again the view from the hide was one of all water, all the duck, Wigeon, Pintail, Shoveler Tufted Duck, Pochard and Goldeneye were on the west bank well out of the north west wind that was blowing.
So I decided I would go back to the Ivy Lake north hide where I found it empty. Another thermal scan showed it to be empty of bitterns, but I stuck around for forty five minutes so see if the situation changed. It didn't, but there was in the reeds a Water Rail, a Goldcrest and the Firecrest once more.
With little else happening I left the hide and made my way back to the car. As I queued in traffic to get on to the A31 I noticed a familiar shape coming from the south and it dropped low over the roundabout and headed north, a White-tailed Eagle clear on the look out for supper.
No killer shot of the bittern despite some great views briefly. The Otter though made up for it in a big way.
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