Watch out bitterns about?

Have you seen any of these on your visits to Ham Wall?

If so please post a reply with as much detail as you can. e.g were they flying if so where from and where to. Were they calling in flight etc

Any information you provide is invaluable in helping us understand what those Ham Wall bitterns are up to! Understanding bittern behaviour is a vital component in our conservation efforts to help this rare and endangered species and your help is really appreciated.

Bittern photo by John Crispin.

  • Just cycling through this morning at 8.30am, I stopped to speak to some visitors who reported half a dozen flights already with one of the those a flight involving two birds. Whilst standing at the first viewing platform I saw two in the space of 5 minutes and heard two different booming birds!

  • I was at Ham Wall yesterday and saw 3 bitterns in flight at the same time and could hear booming in the reeds while they were in flight. This was at about 5pm and I couldn't believe it as I had only ever had brief glimpses of them before. it was great to be able to study them.

  • Hi The Morg

    So glad that you saw this. It was most likely to be a female bittern being pursued by two males. There has been a fair amount of this kind of activity this year and as you will realise it allows great views of the birds whilst they take these long flights.

    Many thanks for the post

    Ray