Once Bittern, Twice Shy: A Visitor's Special Sighting
A fleeting glimpse becomes a shared moment of wonder as a bittern steps out of the reeds and steals the spotlight at the Dulverton Hide.
On a sun-kissed day in November in the Dulverton Hide at the London Wetlands, it started with a shape. “Go straight down from the house with the tower and rectangular roof, you’ll see a spray of reeds pointing right. At the base of the spray there’s a bittern-looking shape.”
Peering through my binoculars at this vague, shadowy apparition it was difficult to know if we were hallucinating a bittern or not. There were about 7 people in the hide, all strangers to me, but we were bonding over the bittern.
Suddenly I thought I saw beak move, so did the others. Then the reeds started to shake, just slightly. We all watched with bated breath.
More moving reeds, this time within the bed itself. Would this illusory bittern emerge into the sunlight? More people entered the hide, no telescopes on offer - just binoculars and one long lens camera. The woman behind the camera had been the most doubting but now signs were hopeful.
The bittern emerged in its camouflage attire, blending in perfectly with the reeds. Hunched then straightened with neck extended.
Now we are all on-board and glued to our binoculars and camera, the shutter clicking wildly.
Out in the sunlight the lonely bittern walked a few steps to the spray of reeds and started to climb and stretch, what a performance.
The numbers in the hide have swelled to around 20 and we all watch starstruck at the bittern in the limelight.
All of a sudden there was a flurry of wings and feet and off this magnificent bird flew - disappearing behind a bank of reeds. Up went a cheer in the hide and spontaneous round of applause, our rockstar had exited right.
Written by visitor, Jane Bristowe.