On Monday we had an extremely close view as a bittern flew past reception just 10 metres in front of us and ended up going into the edge of the reeds on the right hand side of first. This offered us excellent views of the wonderful marked pulmage on this rare bird. This last few weeks has seen a increase in sightings of bittern with up to 2 seen on some days. Head down to singleton and wait and you never know you might spot this great reedbed bird flying past.
Also around reception at the moment, the tree sparrows have be actively chirping away and taking nesting material into the roof - so it looks set that they will be giving me company again this year. Also worth pausing as you approach reception and listen to buzz of bees on the willows (it was extremely noisy yesterday evening).
Elsewhere, avocet numbers have continued to increase with up to 47 now present on marshland from time to time and look carefully along the edges of the lagoons and you should be able to find a snipe lurking there. Our marsh harriers continue to be very active, with a male this morning spending a lot of time taking reed into a potential nest site at the back of singleton.
Still around is that little gull (seen this morning) and yesterday we still had a ring-tail hen harrier down at singleton.