A Bittern at Minsmere, 7th May 2026

A lovely sunny day and a planned trip to RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk. It's a bit of a journey, so big thanks to Chris Gibson for driving. The first thing you see after passing through the Visitor Centre is the sandy bank which was buzzing with Sand Martins. Always tricky to photograph them, so just the one shot.

There were lots of Butterflies on the wing, including Painted Lady.

And Small Copper.

After the North hide, where we heard, but didn't see Nightingale, we walked down to the beach with Sedge and Reed Warblers everywhere. A couple of Common Terns flew over to try their luck fishing in one of the small pools.

There is a small population of feral Barnacle Geese at Minsmere, mostly on the scrape, but also flying in, sometimes with the Greylag Geese. 

A few of the commoner duck species were on the scrape including a number of Shelduck.

However, a real surprise was a pair of Garganey. We spotted them from the beach lookout but got slightly closer views at the South hide. Still fairly distant, so just a couple of record shots.

Waders were ins short supply but included Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwits, Lapwing and three Bar-tailed Godwits, pictured here.

And of course, a couple of shots of the many Avocets!

To complete the wader round up, a couple of Redshanks. It was amazing to see the male displaying, and then mating. Here is a sequence of images which captures the event.

After all of that excitement it was time to head off for the Bittern and Island Mere hides after a quick stop for coffee and cake at the cafe. We saw a few Hobbies over the reed bed and some fleeting views of Bearded Tits. This female Marsh Harrier came in quite close at one point.

But the star of the show was this Bittern which was showing as we entered the aptly named Bittern hide. I believe it's a male as it has a hint of blue on the bill. Probably the best views of one I have had at Minsmere, so please excuse the photo overload.

What a great way to end the day!