Weston Turville BITTERNS - 27 December

Excellent and prolonged views of two BITTERNS this afternoon at WTR. At one stage both birds were seen together. One bird walked into the main channel at about 16.15 and the second bird flew over its head into the reeds between the channel and the reservoir. The first bird stood in the channel skywatching for about 2 minutes before flying off into another channel out of sight. The second bird then appeared in the channel and spent about 4 minutes, also skywatching, before flying into the reeds. At about 4.50 something spooked a Grey Heron and a BITTERN out of the main reedbed and they flew off to the reeds on the opposite side of the reservoir from the (new) hide. The Bittern returned about two minutes later and flew into the reeds just to the left of the channel at the (new) hde end. Also several Water Rails - three were seen in 30 seconds at one point. A Brown Hare walked out into the cut area presumably to feed (Dave Parmenter)