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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Matt Prince" data-source="post: 2029380" data-attributes="member: 52862">Final day 31st DecemberOn the last day we were expected by friends in Cambridge for tea, so only a short morning was available, to make matters worse Nicola was suffering from a tooth abcess and needed to score some serious drugs from our Dentist before he flew off for some winter sun.I'd heard that various birds had been seen around in the Exminster marsh so we headed out that way, Nicola sat in the car with my mobile whilst I had a quick trot around, the winter wildfowl were impressive in their abundance, a carpet of teal and wigeon. I hadn't been long out of the car when I spotted the female marsh harrier sat calmly on the deck. I had a quick chat with Brian (Easeman) as he turned up and shortly after a quick look at the raptor he told me that Mark (Bailey) was looking at a Bittern just up the canal, I could see Leigh Lock coming the other way I went to tell him but he'd already had two, one at least was still back the other way, meaning there was 2-3 bitterns on the canal this morning. I had a quick look, up the way Leigh had come from, hoping I might spot the white fronts but to no avail. Got back to the car just in time as we had to hightail it to the Dentist before Nicola turned into a cabbage patch doll....Just the one species then, but a decent enough bird to end the year list on.Sites visited: ExminsterSpecies : Marsh HarrierBirds 202; GT 1643</blockquote>