A few years ago I recorded the voice of a great bittern. Probably the easiest one of those recordings I have made. There was no problem with that. Its birdsong is so loud, so specific that it is impossible to confuse it with any other. The case looks completely different when it comes to taking pictures. Hardly anyone could see this bird in summer. The perfect camouflage and fact that the area where they are occurring is difficult to access make it hardly possible to notice a great bittern, not to mention taking interesting photos for the gallery. Over the past few years many times I was trying to find a great bittern, especially in winter. And I always failed. But finally determination and perseverance have been rewarded. As usually after winter shooting of sparrows, feeling obliged, half-heartedly I went to a frozen lake which was linked with a small, unfrozen channel. I took my binoculars but as I did not believe that it was possible to find a bittern, I did not take my camera. I crouched near the shore and checked the reeds. Suddenly through the binoculars I got it – the great bittern stood upright in the reeds convicted that is invisible to anybody. And to a large extent that was true, because when I was back with the camera it was a problem  for me to find the bird again. I have never reached my car so quickly and have never assembled a shooting set in such a short time. It took a while to search for the bird but -  there it was. A few photos were taken but with a perspective which seemed uninteresting, so I decided to go a little farther down, but out of the corner of my eye I could see that the bittern was slowly disappearing in reeds. This is how my first encounter with the great bittern ended. Despite the frost and a few hours I spent shooting sparrows in such difficult conditions, suddenly the temperature I felt  much easier to bear,  the cold stopped being annoying - after all I watched the great bittern - awaited for years, such a difficult, unusual bird species! Of course, the gallery must be published, as these few photos may turn out to be the only ones, and it can be impossible to enrich them with more interesting shots. Time will show. (03/2018)
Last minute news-10/2020
This time, Halina and I went to the watch room to see Great Bittern. He was seen in this area, which increased the probability to 2% that he would succeed. But if you don't try, you won't get photographed. A few hours of waiting from dawn and suddenly he is in full frame in front of our lenses. It is difficult to contain the emotions of such a long-awaited meeting, but Halina's pressure has reached its maximum. She had been watching him a few minutes earlier than me, because the bittern sat 50 cm from her hideout wall and was checking the area. Whatever movement, sound then and I'd say it was close again. This time it worked, although the majestic passage in front of the lenses took less than two minutes. Only and two minutes. Two minutes, which will be remembered for the rest of your life, change the existing documentary content of the gallery and soooooo such meeting must be noted in the news ...
Day two…
For the next day we decided to try to photograph the spinning top again. He appeared at the same time on the two previous days. Was it systematic in penetrating its territory? Unfortunately not. This time great bitterns were much farther away on the small island. The island was so small that the appearance of a second bird on it led to a farther skirmish and chasing the weaker individual away. Unfortunately, it flew in the opposite direction, and a photo of the farther in flight was taken from quite a distance. The next photos show a feeding, focused bird. Qualitatively, the photos leave a lot to be desired, but it is worth adding them to the gallery, which becomes a bit more varied and shows better the environment in which the bird lives.