Monday, March 01, 2010
The borderers
A visit to the county boundary on the Jubilee River this morning produced a voluble and intermittently visible Cetti's warbler, and a gently squealing water rail. There was a cracking of reeds while a small area of stems swayed quite violently. Then the noise and movement stopped, so it wasn't the mink. More like a large bird resettling itself.....
So I went back this evening. The Cetti's was still singing off and on, and the bittern was standing at the end of the same channel through the reeds as yesterday, seen from where the hawthorn bushes on the bank begin.
A birder I met this morning said that another chap had just told him the bittern was there before Christmas. Well, I didn't see that reported anywhere so I'll put this down as my first self-found bittern. (I know it wasn't the first bittern sighting at the wetlands since one was reported further downstream on January 1st.)// posted by Christine @ 10:28 AM 
