Bittern and more migrants at a dreary Summer Leys

The weather had taken a sudden turn and the stunning Mrach sunshine had turned to cold dreary conditions with a bitter wind chill. It did mean however that birds would be on the move.

I decided to head to Summer Leys today in the hope of catching up with the Bittern that had been showing occasionally in reeds on the scrape there. I'd tried yesterday after work but as is typical with my luck with Bitterns, it failed to show, however there was a lone Curlew pecking around in front of the Screen Hide.

Today, I spent another good chunk of time looking for the Bittern, however it was a tad breezy to see it to be honest and it was no suprise it didn't show initially. So I spent quite a bit of time taking a few photos of the various birds on show on the scrape.

After this is was time for a wander to get warm. From the Feeding Station, 2 Little Ringed Plovers were a year tick, bombing along the Gull Island shoreline. Shortly after, 5-10 Sand Martins headed East. Decided to have a look from the Screen Hide next and the Curlew from the previous night was still feeding nice and close and 2 Swallows were seen for a short while dipping over the water before heading East pretty quickly, my first March Swallow!

At this point I was cursing the fact that I hadn't brought an extra layer, was freezing my b******ks off! All the same I soldiered on and 2 Little Egrets showed, 1 landing nearby, the other flew straight through. The 2 Little Ringed Plovers then came and landed in front of the screen hide and I was able to rattle off a couple of shots before they zoomed off a few minutes later.

It was then time to have another crack at the Bittern. Again my chances weren't looking great until about half an hour had passed. I suddenly realised that it was in fact sitting high up in the reeds on the edge of a willow bush. Wasn't the best view you'll ever get but was chuffed to see it. After a couple of minutes it slid down into the reeds and I managed to track it just about as it moved from left to right. It wasn't too long though before it evaporated into the reeds. It's just about visible in the photo below...just about.

Didn't really see to much after that, although as I was packing my scope into the car, my first Blackcap of the year was in song halfway down the lane.