Met up with many of the other Gwent birders on the search for the Bittern at Morgan's Fishing Lakes in Bettws, what a wonderful little spot it is there and I'm sure it'll be added to many of our regular visit spots now we've found it. Totally missed him on Sat however he did shown late in the afternoon to others but we did get some great displays from the two local kingfishers there and a surprise appearance by two Mink. Took the chance to call in on Sunday afternoon on the way back from the wetlands to show hubby the lakes and lo and behold after a walk round the lake hubby spotted him right opposite peg 29 stood on top of some logs, he then proceeded to give us a great show for about an hour and a half brazenly walking up and down the opposite lake bank, glaring evils at the moorhens and coots in between doing a bit of tea time feeding. He really is a magnificent bird and quite comfortable with the paparazzi and slightly bemused fishermen and John tells me that after we left and it got even quieter he flew over to the close bank where he continued feeding, fingers crossed he hangs about for a while now so I can get there with my tripod for some filming. Very challenging (for me anyway) to photograph there as there is so many shadows especially with the low winter sun and the fact that this guy merges in so well with the undergrowth so if anyone has any suggestions of how to get max sharpness and clarity in these sorts of conditions I'd be very grateful. Unfortunately as usual I cant upload my images directly onto the post but I've added them onto the photo library under tagline Bettws Bittern.
Forgot to say that there was also a very cheery songthrush sat behind us as we watched the Bittern - obviously put out that he wasnt centre of attention and so was giving it big time vocally - managed to snap a shot of him too, gorgeous birds with a fantastic song
Sorry as a pps I've also put up two of the pics of the Mink but apologise in advance for the quality as we had the sun in our faces looking into a very dark area of undergrowth and were completely surprised by them, have done a very basic lighting of the pic and highlighted the beasties - first time spot for me (I know some would say that's not necessarily a bad thing with these guys)