Cold and Frost Bittern Yesterday and Today

Although it has been cold all week the sun has been out most days, making it bright with clear blue skies. Yesterday I set off for my morning walk and the thermometer was at 0 degrees so a bit warmer than the -3 or -2 we've been getting.

A snow flurry greeted me as I walked on Southorpe Road towards the hide at Wassand and turned the road white.

Southorpe Road

The Barnacle Geese were in the crop field as usual and a few Greylags were munching away too.

The snow blew over and sunshine took over for a few minutes, to be replaced by hail 😄

A heady mixture of snow and hail

Going through the wood by Weatherhill Farm a Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming, and as I went through the wood at Wassand I saw or heard another 5 'peckers.

Being out early has benefits - a few Roe Deer were browsing along the path.

Young Roe buck

Apart from the woodpeckers and deer, the wood was strangely quiet.

I went into the hide for a while then up onto the viewing platform for a check over the reeds - quiet here too! 5 Goldeneye and 3 Tufted Duck plus a few Mute Swans didn't get my heart racing. What did though was a bird flying over the water from about 100 yards on the right hand side of the hide towards the opposite reed bed. A quick check with the bins confirmed it was a Bittern, but by the time I got my camera in position it had disappeared into the reeds. A good sighting though, and although I stayed on a while to see if it reappeared, it didn't.

This morning (Sunday) dawned clear and bright and bloody cold again, with a temperature of -2 degrees as I set out to go back to the hide to wait for the Bittern to wake up and show itself.

The woodland walk was filled with interest.  I heard a Green Woodpecker yaffling almost straight away but despite hearing it call 4 times I couldn't see it. Great Spotted Woodpeckers were showing well but none were drumming today. Around the spot where the old boat house was I heard a Water Rail squealing and when it stopped a Cetti's Warbler took over providing a sound track for my walk. The usual Treecreeper turned up and totally ignored me as it worked its way up a tree looking for food.

Treecreeper

Treecreepers usually provide a profile pose before the fly off

A small black dog came running down the path and just outside the wood a fox dashed along the fence line. Black dog went under the fence and followed after the fox but it went awry and turned off on the wrong track thank goodness. I filled in the hole under the fence with some dead wood just in time as two more dogs came down the path and tried to go under the fence. They buggered off the way they had come.

I climbed the steps up to the viewing platform with high hopes. You never know what will show up at Decoy Hide - Otter, Bittern, Marsh Harrier, Bearded Tit, Kingfisher, Common Buzzard, Little Grebe or something totally unexpected. Today was just one of those other days 😏

Plenty of thin ice was covering most of the water surface as I looked out and Black-headed, Herring and Common Gulls were standing on it, dozing in the sunshine. One of the BHGs was showing signs of getting its dark hood back, so Spring is certainly on its way.

Gulls on ice

A Cormorant was swimming along parallel to the far reed bed shore and 12 Goldeneye were keeping each other company. Over the far side a pair of crows were hassling a Common Buzzard so it flapped away and went soaring into the clear blue sky.

It circled upwards for a while then started flying over towards the hide...

Common Buzzard soaring

Common Buzzard over the hide

A young male Marsh Harrier appeared from stage left and flew east but it was too distant to bother with any photos.

Meanwhile I had been watching the reed beds for a sight of the elusive Bittern but I had to leave without seeing it. Hopefully others will be more fortunate than I was.

Back through the fields on the south side of The Mere the large finch flock that has been around the set aside crop was noisily chattering - mainly Linnet with a few Goldfinch mixed in today.  Here's a short video of them with sound.