Little Bittern Puts On Big Show

A female Little Bittern that has been present at Stocker's Lake in Herts for over a week was located after being missing the previous day.

I first saw a Little Bittern 28 years ago at Potteric Carr in South Yorkshire.  I never expected to get better views of this beautiful bird. 

Over the morning it was almost always visible, but in typical behaviour was generally skulking in the reeds.  After working it's way along the river bank, it climbed up into a Willow tree before flying down river. It then fed actively and despite the large crowd it finally came out into the open on a couple of occasions.  By this time I was in prime position to capture this beautiful and elusive visitor:

This may work in a pale reedbed, but the 'merge into background' pose doesn't quite cut the mustard here!