It took me all of 5 minutes this morning to drive from my house to the scene of much excitement yesterday. Sadly though, I was heading off patch - 2.7km off patch to be precise. As light slowly began to increase, 10 of us started scouring the shore of Castlefreke lake for the
american bittern that was found there yesterday. Eventually it actually got light. And then even more eventually someone spotted its head sticking up over the near bank. And then everyone got great views as it walked out into full view before heading back towards the ditch - a fabulous bird!
It was such a good bird that we took the kids to see it this afternoon. Sadly it wasn't quite as showy but we did see it. The kids yoyo'd from boredom to hyper-excitement when it showed and then back to boredom when it disappeared. Then they looked at a
pheasant. Which was nice. Then we went home.
