Wet Sunday

Sunday June 7
Maybe I should have looked at the weather forecast before setting off for Hickling NWT reserve. We left at mid-day, in the dry. Barely a mile away, the road was wet and the rain soon started. We carried on regardless, as did the rain, heavily, all afternoon.
Driving to Whiteslea Lodge and then walking to Bittern Hide, we sat for an hour gazing at a drooping reedbed and soggy Sedge and Reed Warblers having to hunt food for their young. The Marsh Harriers looked sodden as did the Reed Bunting which flew in. We heard a Bittern boom and a Water Rail squeal before deciding to explore the new hide just up the track. The approach is protected by 10 feet tall material and a 'nesting birds' sign, so we were hopeful. This hide doesn't have a reed overhang and the northerly wind was driving the rain in through the viewing slits. Sitting at the back bench solved that problem. We were rewarded by a Bittern flying in close by and landing in the reeds just left of the hide.
A plodding retreat, couldn't even photograph the lovely, but rain drooped, yellow irises adorning the trackside.