A late visit to Marsh Lane.

A few of my friends have got excellent shots of the Barn Owl(s) at Marsh Lane but have only seen them late afternoon onwards so for a change I went there later than usual arriving at 3.30PM.

It was showery and overcast when I got out of the car so I was not confident of seeing one.The site book showed 2 had been seen mid morning around the railway pool so had they eaten for the day already?

On the main path a birder said the Bittern was showing well to the right of the reedbed but when I got there there was no sign.A very patient wait in the Oak hide till 5.00PM was only rewarded with several Tree Sparrows on the feeders,several Snipe in the marsh(no Jack Snipe though) and a lone Oystercatcher but alas no Barn Owls.

On the way back to the carpark another birder said he'd just been watching the Bittern in the open and it had just flown into the left hand reeds.There was no sign of it when I got there.

So failure with the Barn Owls and also with the Bittern.All I got was some shots of the Tree Sparrows