Monday 20 February 2012

An early morning visit to Brandon Marsh.

Having stayed in on Friday and Saturday I was keen to go out with the camera on Sunday morning so I opted to go over to Brandon Marsh.Got there not long after 8.00AM to find a bright and frosty morning ideal for getting shots if I could find some birds to point the camera at.

Went to the Steetly hide first but after half an hour nothing of note turned up so I left and headed for the Baldwin hide where a pair of Goldeneyes were in a romantic mood but better still I spotted the pair of Pintails that had been around for a couple of days.They were way off in the distance at first but when they took flight and landed near the EM hide I set off there hoping to get a few shots.

The EM hide had several of the Brandon regulars there when I entered and they were trying to see a Bittern that was deep in the reeds to the right of the hide.Although I tried from different spots all along the hide I'm blowed if I could see it and this was despite getting lots of advice on it's location  "See the log on the island on the right,come down to the reeds,go left 3 feet,drop down to the reed that's orange and you can see the end of it's beak just to the left".I gave up after half an hour not having got even a glimpse and tried for some shots of the Pintails that I could actually see.


















The only other spot of note was of a Water Rail that showed itself briefly in the reeds to the left of the hide but it soon scurried back into cover.






Surprisingly it soon reappeared but shot across the gap at great speed and I only managed this blurred shot.








The place was now becoming very busy so at 11.30AM I decided to head home.The car park was full with people waiting to park and there were even two coaches parked up.What had they come to see.What had I missed.



2 comments:

boatbirder said...

Max, you'll bury us all :) It was great fun trying to put you on to the Bittern! Dare I say even better fun than the birding itself! love it when your around, you always brighten up the day :)

Max Silverman said...

Cheers Keith.Mind you I am worried I might have become "Bittern Blind" because I'm blowed if I saw it even in that chaps scope.