This is a pretty heavily cropped picture of a Bittern taken at the London Wetland Centre (22/02/09). I'm pretty new to birding (essentially since Christmas), so this was an exciting moment for me.
We'd spent some time in the main hide (Peacock Tower for those who know the site) where a chap was genorously letting us look through his scope to see this Bittern in a reed bed. Apparently it was there, but I couldn't get my eye in and spot it. However, towards the end of the day, we headed to the other side of the site and a hide there. After a couple of minutes the Bittern was suddenly seen out in the open. It stood still for maybe 30 seconds and then flew off. Very satisfying.
