Otterly amazing part 2

The trip I had to see the otters last week was so good that I had to go and have another go. This time I went with one of my friends from Maple Lodge, Peter Jones, a very keen photographer. We met early at Maple Lodge so we were ahead of the traffic. By 7 we were pulling up on site with a bright dawn and weak sun rising. We grabbed our gear and set off on the walk to the site. After boasting to Peter how good they were last time I was a bit nervous that we would have a long morning ahead of us looking at empty river banks. As we walked down the river it was coming to life - a few brambling and siskins on a bird feeder, Mandarin ducks flying up and down the river and starlings leaving their roost in the reeds.
We finally got to the designated spot with another photographer pointing his lens down into the river. Both the mother and cub were on station and having breakfast!

Well, the cub was not actually doing very much. It was curled up on a log and not doing a lot.

Mum meanwhile was hunting in the river, diving repeatedly in the scummy area behind the logs and in the deeper faster water in the middle stream.

Every 10 minutes or so she would come back to the youngster, prompting excited squeaking as a morsel was passed across to it. It is really a very small cub. They emerge at about 4 months and this is probably not that much older. It certainly had trouble swimming when it went into the water, hence why it spent most of its time on the logs.

There were a few other stars on the river as well, especially  a very confiding grey wagtail, taking food off the surface of the water.

She must be a good otter mother as she hardly rested in getting food for herself and the cub. Interestingly they are not the only otters here as at one point another pair came past. They seemed reasonably relaxed with each other but the second pair didn't hang about.

By 9.30 we were getting peckish ourselves and certainly in need of coffee. We said goodbye to the pair and headed back to the car for our breakfast. After getting refreshed we headed off to another stop at Lakenheath. This time we were in search of another shy creature, a bittern. The reserve was very quiet but we got to the reedbed hide and set up for a long wait. Within a few minutes a bittern did fly into the reeds to our right but it promptly disappeared.

A few birds kept us amused and some other people came and went but nothing of the bittern. As lunch was approaching I finally spotted a shape on the far side of the reedbed.

The bittern finally strolled out. It didn't hang about long though. A look around, a bit of fluffing up and it flew off and out of sight.

We hung about for a bit longer but it was not going to play ball for us. Lunch called and we headed off back to the car and home. Another very successful day with two absolute stars.