Bitterns at Marazion Marsh, in numbers

I went to Marazion expecting to see two, maybe three Bitterns today, but was surprised to find at least six, and all within the space of ten minutes.  For some reason today they seemed to be showy and very flighty.  In two hours we had at least twenty views.  Given that the cold weather is due to continue, one can assume there could be even more.

Killer on the loose

The news today that one of the Bitterns at Marazion was killed by another Bittern is extraordinary.  I took this shot last sunday and can only assume that this bird did not take kindly to another on its' territory.  The link is to Bob Sharples' image of the dead bird lying in the reeds after it was drowned by the dominant bird. LINK

A Bittern day at Marazion

Two Bitterns showed today at Marazion Marsh, both around midday.  I was only expecting flight shots as these birds seem to take short sorties from one area to another.  The lower bird surprised me though as it appeared out of the reeds directly in front of the roadside viewing platform, and stayed there for about a minute in full view.

Text edited and updated 31st Jan:  This winter has been one of the best for Bitterns in Cornwall.  The full numbers present will become evident but at Marazion Marsh, up to five have been present (31st Jan), at Loe Pool, a minimum of two, probably four, one at Rospannel, one at Stithians, one at Par Beach pool, one at Porth Reservoir (31st Jan) and one at Swanpool are the records that I'm aware of.  Undoubtedly more are lurking undetected.

The images were taken with the 300mm F/2.8 lens and new TC3 aspherical 2x teleconverter, which seems to work well with this lens, but struggled to find focus with the 600mm!