Calvert Bittern

 With the second Covid lockdown due to start the following day, I decided to travel a bit outside of my local area to try and see a Bittern in my home county before lockdown prevents it.  So I made the one hour drive to the Calvert BBOWT Reserve in NW Buckinghamshire and arrived about 9am.

It was a beautiful sunny, but very cold, morning and I quietly took up residence in the hide.  I was pleased that no-one else was present given social distancing issues!  

Calvert BBOWT Lake - As viewed from the hide. 
Click on the image to get a larger view of this panoramic photo.

There were Little Grebes feeding in the gaps between the reeds. Cetti's Warblers could be heard in song and I even manged to see one for a change!  Great Crested Grebes, Coots and a selection of Ducks, Geese and Gulls were present on the water but nothing of note.

Then at 10:15 a Bittern appeared in the right hand channel and swam/walked to the reed bed on the centre-right.  The light was against me so most of my photos were silhouette shots.  I quickly made a few changes to the settings in the camera but by then the Bittern was almost in the reeds.  I stayed another couple of hours or so but did not see it again.

Water Rail - After hearing it squealing, it decided to cross to a different reedbed. 

I was just about to leave the hide when Dick Seekins turned up.  We were suitably social distanced, so I stayed for a while.  I hadn't seen Dick for a some time so it was good to catch up with his recent birding exploits.  Dick stayed for a while after I had left but the Bittern apparently did not show, so I guess I was quite lucky to get my fairly brief view of the bird.