Crawled from my pit at 6.00am on Sunday, and looked forward to a fine day at Blashford. Uppermost in my thinking was the need to get pics of the Mealy Redpolls, that have been visiting the feeders in the Woodland hide for a while now. I did know that the Great White Egret was in residence, but didn't hold up much hope for getting shots of it, as the last time i saw one there it was barely visible with binoculars. Determined to get to the site before the birding crowd arrived, i left home just after 7.00am, and reached the (still closed) gates at 8.10am. Parked outside, and sat a while, thinking i'd have to wait. Then a birder arrived, parked behind me, and went in, using the swing gate at the side, so i followed him onto the reserve. I made a bee-line for the Ivy North, knowing that the Woodland hide would be in dire darkness this early,,,, of course it was locked. Kicked my heels, ate my lunch,,, LOL, and after half an hour one of the wardens turned up to open it. He unlocked the hide, and went in, while i waited. Coming back out he said that a Great White Egret was sitting right in front of the hide,,,, i was pretty much gobsmacked, not to say excited. The shutters were locked down, and very slowly i carefully opened the end window. So there i was, all alone in the hide, with a GWE sitting in front of me. I managed to get about a dozen shots off before 'other people' started to pile in, and the Egret, sensing possible danger, flew off.
The Bittern was spotted skulking in the reeds to the left, and i stayed in the hide for another hour and a half, waiting for it to show. It did, but not for photographic purposes, with parts of it visible at times.
After this i tripped off over to the Woodland hide, where the light,,, while not brilliant was reasonable. Finished the day trying to get the Mealy Redpoll,,,, failed, but i shall return.
