Eurasian Bittern by Tim Melling

 

 

If you want to see Eurasian Bittern well, then you could do worse than visit Far Ings NR in north Lincolnshire at the moment. With patience, excellent views can be enjoyed of these normally secretive reedbed dwellers and, as Tim Melling's wonderful image above shows, they are putting on a fantastic performance at times.

We see plenty of bittern shots on the deck, with birds stalking around the reed edges, but flight shots are a much scarcer commodity – and especially so when they are of such high quality as this. Tim has frozen the bird in a fantastic pose, with wings spread and legs dangling, as it comes in to land. The side light has also contributed to the interesting colours and shadows cast across the bird – it almost looks as if the eye is burning as it stands out against the rest of the face! Congratulations to Tim on winning the first POTW of 2023.

 

Other notable images

 

Northern Shoveler, Greylake RSPB, Somerset & Bristol (Carl Bovis).

Hen Harrier, undisclosed site, Hampshire (Jeremy Mcclements).

Common Kingfisher, undisclosed site, Greater Manchester (Ivan Ellison).

Black-tailed Godwit, Neston Marsh, Cheshire (Richard Castell).

Jack Snipe, Oslo, Oslo (Simon Rix).

Great Kiskadee, Riviera Maya, Mexico (Clive Daelman).

Fieldfare, Elan Valley, Powys (Kev Joynes).

Meadow Pipit, Devizes, Wiltshire (James Burk).

Pallid Harrier, Machir Bay, Islay, Argyll (Jonathan Farooqi).

Ring-necked Duck, Glasgow, Clyde (Paul Coombes).

Lesser Scaup, Kirkcaldy, Fife (Simon Knight).

Tufted Duck, Abberton Reservoir, Essex (Bill Plumb).