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The weather has been a bit of a mixture today – sunshine and showers.  This rabbit on the campsite found the picnic table a useful shelter while the rain was coming down.

As usual, we started our day by going over the Levels and along the droves.  Every day we see something different of interest along the way.

 

First of all it was a Kestrel on a metal post.

 

The photo isn’t brilliant as I was taking it out of Bessie’s window with the engine running!

 

 

 

Then, just a few yards down the drove, we spotted this Buzzard.  It was Peter’s side this time and he was able to take quite a few photos.

We had decided to pay another visit to RSPB Ham Wall to see if anything else of interest had appeared since our last visit.  As usual, there were quite a few cars in the carpark and the normal giant lenses at the viewing platform. At least the sun was shining – for a while anyway.

The Lapwings were there in abundance, plus the Shovelers, Cormorants and, of course, the Gulls.  Somehow Cormorants always look rather like eccentric musical conductors with an orchestra of disinterested Mallards etc.

Out in the reed beds the Great White Egret was there but this time with his friend – a Heron.

 

 

 

They seemed close companions although the Egret always led the way!

 

Suddenly, a rather know-it-all woman with binoculars shouted “Look, a Bittern!” Too late we turned – apparently it had landed in a clump of reeds.  And then, just as we had given up getting sight of him, the cry went up again and Peter was able to get this hurried shot of the Bittern as he flew, accompanied by a Gull, over the assembled Lapwings and disappeared into the distance.

Now, this may not seem very interesting to some but it has always been our ambition to actually see a Bittern and, however brief a sight, it was exciting!

That turned out to be the highlight of our day in the end as, although we went out again after a quick lunch and a warm-up in Bessie (it had got very cold and windy), we saw nothing else of interest, apart from this rather sedate Cormorant and a rather splendid view of Glastonbury Tor in the distance.

 

Dusk began to fall very quickly at around 4pm and we decided to call it a day.  Already there were more cars arriving – presumably for the Starling Show – but it had started to rain again, this time more like hailstones, so we were glad that we had witnessed that particular phenomenon on a warmer less windy night!