Blashford Lakes HWT

On the 28th of December my Dad and I went down to Blashford Lakes as they have had a good spell of decent birds which include Cattle Egret, Great White Egret, Bittern, Red Necked Grebe and a couple of Black Necks.


First of all we visited the Feeding station and got Siskins one of which was a superb male (see photo) also all of the usual. Moving on we headed for the Ivy North hide where the Bittern had been showing and after about an hours wait it produced no more than a Moorhen but then a Water Rail flew out from the reeds (Patch tick) and immediatley after the Bittern strolled out of the reeds and swam straight (another patch tick) for us until it reached the Nearest reeds where I managed some shots, after about 5mins it walked back into the reeds where it came and we moved on.

Then we went for the Cattle Egret nearby but it flew off just before we got there and wasn't seen again that evening. Finally we stopped off at Mockbeggar to see the Great White Egret and this we managed to see but unfortunately we didn't see all 5 species of heron present we only managed 4.






The Bittern which showed well from the Ivy North Hide.

Click for larger image.