Eye Contact With A Cetti's Warbler

I'd seen online that a drake smew had been spotted on Seventy Acres Lake. I walked right round the lake looking for it but no luck. (The same thing happened last year I see from my blip journal.)

I saw this Cetti's warbler by the water's edge and managed the above shot. These bush warblers, which are the only ones outside Asia, are difficult to capture as they're shy and skulking creatures. They've been residents in the UK since 1961 and are known for their stocky build, loud call and cocked tail. 

I went into the Wildlife Discovery Centre to ask about the smew. Someone had seen it on Friday. The bittern was strutting its stuff right outside The Bittern Hide in front of a phalanx of photographers and birders with bins. I slid onto a bench on the fringes and got a shot of the big bird flapping its wings and doing an impression of a clump of reeds. 

I also got a shot of a lovely young woman skipping on the canal towpath and an attractive mallard hybrid. (Extras)