So, eventually I get my eye in and start picking out the Acros, Reed & Sedge make it onto the year list, followed by Bearded Tit, which surprised me; we'd had our expectations managed downwards at the visitor centre but I guess we must just have been lucky. As you watch from Joist Fen viewpoint there's a channel in the reeds a little off to the left, running away from you, and I was checking the fringes for Bitterns and instead got a Water Rail flying across and a couple of Beardies crossing low down. I called the boys over and after a short wait we got a couple more. From here we also managed distant flight views of Bittern to add to our mostly obscured Marbury siting earlier in the year, but we're still waiting for our killer views of this species.
Cuckoo and Cetti's Warbler were next on our wanted list, both audible right round the reserve (when not drowned out by the couple of F something-or-others from out of the airbase that occasionally tore by), but before that we managed to pick up a singing Whitethroat and were put onto a distant late Fieldfare by another birder. Eventually we located a Cuckoo, high in a poplar, but not before we enjoyed distant looks at the Glossy Ibis and a Great White Egret on the washlands. Cetti's remained stubbornly heard only.
So that was that for Easter Hols, a pleasant city break with family, with some excellent wildlife sightings to boot. Special thanks should go to Mark Hows for advising on some sites, even if we didn't manage to get round all of them. There's always next time.