I had a fab afternoon walk around Hellesdon Meadow today. First off, I spotted a gorgeous fox, fluffed up in it's winter livery, trotting along on the other side of the river bank. then later some moorhens pannicked, betraying the presence of an otter, who was swimming upstream, back the way I had come from, he even got out of the water on the far side of the bank at one point. :t:
So I followed this otter, but I lost sight of it near the bridge, turned round to look on the other side of it only to find a flipping Bittern fishing by the water's edge! :eek!: It caught a large roach (I think), but didn't really know what to do with it so after carying it away, the bittern dropped it and just left it flapping on the bank. Then a short while later, it must have seen this vole or something rustling in the undergrowth because it turned and snatched it up, shook it then gulped it down! The bittern then went back to the edge of the bank to resume fishing. It caught another roach, but this time dropped it back in the river!
A snipe also flew in and as it was now getting late I took a wander back along the river and flushed a water rail! What an afternoon!
:t:B