The last day of 2007 and my last chance to add some birds to my year list, so we headed to Blashford, where we had heard there was a Bittern in the reeds outside Ivy Lake, North Hide, and a Cattle Egret near North End Farm, a couple of miles from Blashford.
We went in search of the Cattle Egret first, and by the time we arrived at North End Farm we had already seen four Buzzards, one Kestrel and a Peregrine......not bad considering it was just after 9am on a cold, cloudy, December morning.
The Cattle Egret was easy to find, it was sitting in the field opposite the farm and we had good views of it, before it flew off over the farm. Now it was time to head back to Blashford to look for the Bittern.
cattle egret
I had decided that even if it took a few hours I would stay until I had seen the Bittern. Well, luck was definitely on our side to-day, as we were only in the Ivy Lake, North Hide for about five minutes when another birder located the Bittern. He then very kindly showed me where it was and he set our scope up, so everyone had good views. I must admit I don't think we would have found the Bittern ourselves, as it was so well camouflaged.
The Great White Egret was showing well on Ibsley Water and with a Grey Heron and Little Egret at Blashford there were five heron species altogether........not bad at all.
We were thinking of going home, but as luck seemed to be on our side we decided to go to Farlington Marshes in search of some Bearded Tits, a bird I have wanted to see for a long time. To tell the truth, I hadn't been able to get out birding all over Christmas so I wanted to make the most of to-day!!!
It must have been 12.30ish, when we arrived at Farlington Marshes and we headed straight to the reed beds. I was looking at some teal ducks through the scope when I noticed some movement in the reeds. I couldn't believe it........Bearded Tits and lots of them!!!!!!
bearded tit - sorry the pic isn't very good......
They were at the back of the reeds at first, and we could only see them in the scope, but they gradually moved closer to us. Wonderful little birds to watch, we reckon there were 20-25 of them, and we did watch them for almost an hour. By then we were freezing cold and in need of a nice hot drink, but with three lifers to add to my year list, what a perfect end to my birding year.................
154. cattle egret
155. bittern
156. bearded tit
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