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Bittern heartbreak! (1 Viewer)

mikfoz

mikfoz

It's not a competition. Watch the birdy!
Went up to Marton Mere for a chilly but bright morning walk...

Had a reasonable day out. Had a good view of seven Long-eared Owls again and got to play Good Samaritan to two twitchers in search of them.

Went round to the Container Hide after getting some murky snaps of the owls and had barely got in there and set up my camera when up pops the Bittern. My camera is in my hand so up it goes. Autofocus snaps straight on to it, well within good pic range of 210mm. Press the shutter button... nothing. It's switched on, what's wrong... damnit! I'm on f22 for max DOFfor the bloody owls! So my camera finally squeezes off a lame pic at 1/20s after much refusal to function. And I get the world's most motion blurred in-flight shot imaginable. Pic of the one that got away below :-@

Had a bit of a lift when I got some great views and pics of a Water Rail for a good 3-4 minutes.

All the usual stuff about on the water but concentrated in the middle due to the ice. Lovely pair of Goldfinch brightened my day, also. Apart from that it was business as usual.

I'll just have to hope I get another go at the Bittern as it's the second time now it's flown across the reed bed right in front of me and I've not been able to snap it.
 

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Unlucky! But at least you saw it, I think the photo you did get of the Bittern is actually really cool! Nice one! 7 LEO's,that must have been quite a sight...
 
Hi Mikfoz,
As a record shot of the bittern yeh ok its not that good but i tell you what as a arty type pic of a bittern in flight its bl***y fantastic,
Well done,
Nigel.
 
Similar day to what I had yesterday, seen a water rail then waited six hours for the next living thing to show and after all that time this came along. Very happy.
 

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Veracocha said:
Similar day to what I had yesterday, seen a water rail then waited six hours for the next living thing to show and after all that time this came along. Very happy.
Click to expand...

Huh! I'm not jealous. You can't make me jealous...

Waaah!

I'm still happy to get such a great view of the Bittern, anyway.
 
mikfoz said:
Huh! I'm not jealous. You can't make me jealous...
Waaah!
Click to expand...

Im jealous ..... I was booked on a "bittern walk" at Potteric Carr at the weekend. Got a text from the reserve manager "cancelled due to sickness".

Ive only had glimpses of the bird in the past, "a beak sticking out of the reeds would be an accurate description!!!!" :eek!:

Great photos folks
 
I agree with what has already been said mikfoz, quite an arty shot. What with 7 LEOs (did you not get a photo lol), Bittern and Water Rail, sounds like a day I would be well pleased with.:t:
 
I'm totally happy with the sightings, it was just having a flying Bittern in my viewfinder and not getting the shot for the sake of a setup mistake was just my luck and took the shine off it.

I actually had a stellar birding weekend.
 
I've spent quite a few weekends up at Marton Mere now and even though the area they have been seen has been pointed out to me I've still yet to see one.

I have bumped into mikfoz up there on a couple of times though (Thanks for pointing out the LEO).

Great photo I'm sure your luck will improve.

Derek
 
I just posted a picture in the Gallery, taken by my wife last week, of a Bittern with a Pike in its beak. I really wanted to post it in this thread, but I can't work out how to do it. Can someone explain how to add an image to a reply in a thread?
 
ColinNorth said:
I just posted a picture in the Gallery, taken by my wife last week, of a Bittern with a Pike in its beak. I really wanted to post it in this thread, but I can't work out how to do it. Can someone explain how to add an image to a reply in a thread?
Click to expand...

Hi Colin

Just click on Go Advanced and that will allow you to manage attachments.
 
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