Bittern and Hobbys at Lakenheath Fen

14th May 2019

This is the time of year when Hobbys congregate in large numbers at Lakenheath Fen to feed up on their migration, so time for my annual visit. The air was full of bird song and a male Reed Bunting was perched on its traditional Phragmites head keeping an eye out while the female was sitting on eggs on the nearby nest. Whitethroats were also present in good numbers.

It was fairly quiet at the New Fen watch-point apart from a pair of Tufted Ducks and a Great Crested Grebe, both of which looked resplendent in their summer plumage in the morning sun.

Further along the track a few teneral damselflies were exploring their new surroundings, but the new big kids on the block were some freshly emerged Hairy Dragonflies. This is a female.

As the morning warmed up Hobbys started to appear and were hawking insects high over New Fen. Up to eight were present but they would appear and then disappear as quickly, so patience was the name of the game. After a couple of hours I managed to get a few decent shots as they occasionally flew close. Now on to the Mere Hide to try for some Bearded Tits or some Bittern flight shots.

As I walked up the boardwalk to the hide they was no sign of any Beardies but as luck would have it a Bittern was creeping along the reeds on the far side of the pool. From here the bird was virtually impossible to photograph as there were reeds growing alongside the boardwalk. Therefore I left the gathered throng and ran to the hide for an unimpeded view.

This was probably the same Bittern as last year, but then I didn't get to photograph it until after the young had left the nest. But today it was feeding along the edge on its own, presumably with the female sitting on eggs nearby. It was partially obscured for much of the time, but did eventually break cover for some decent shots.

At one point it came a bit too close to this family of Coot chicks and was attacked by the two adult Coots. And its response?................it boomed at them. How good is that?