no apologies for some more Bittern images; although I live within 2kms of the clay pits where Bitterns are resident and breed seeing them in the open is still a notable event so being able to watch this bird fishing for 4 hours this afternoon was a treat; I would guess that many birders have never actually seen a Bittern fishing; this bird had two strategies today the static wait and see and the active head in the water search routine -- the latter seemed to produce most fish -- when sighted the bird starts to quiver and then plunges forward with all of the head and neck sometimes disappearing into the water usually emerging with a fish -- needless to say the light was poor but at least the poor weather limited the number of dog walkers passing by and there were no birders!
