2 Purple Heron and 1 Little Bittern. Porth Hellick

Adult male Little Bittern showing extremely well in front of the Sussex hide at Porth Hellick

  What a day! It all started at 10.30 when Ren called to say he had the adult Purple in front of the hide at Lower Moors. I was on my ways but I diverted to Porth Hellick when he called back a few minutes later to say there are 2 adult Purple Heron and they've flown towards Parting Carn. At Porth Hellick I met up with Robin and as we approached the Sussex Hide I could see one of the herons with my naked eye on the far side of the pool. We called the others and when I left to return to work, Martin called to say that the other heron was close to the hide and flown towards the loop trail.
  At 12.30 I took Bob Dawson down to Porth Hellick and while watching the Purple Heron, Higgo shouted 'Little Bittern!' To the right of the seaward hide we all watched the male Little Bittern that Paul Varney found yesterday morning on the main track of Lower Moors or is this a different one!? The bittern stayed on the far side of the pool with the Purple Heron and Bob and I had to return to work
  At 14.00, Higgo called to tell me that both Purple Heron and the Little Bittern were all in view at the same time!. I had not seen both herons and this may be the first Scilly record of two together. As I arrived at Porth Hellick everyone was leaving. I immediately found the bittern and he flew across the pool and landed in front of the Sussex hide. I called everyone to get there butt down here and for the next 10 minutes the bittern spent most of it's time almost under the hide. When Martin arrived it had moved further away but was still showing well. Nearby, one of the herons also showed well at close range. Just before Paul Varney arrived the bittern flew off out to Porth Hellick Bay only to return again 10 minutes later out of sight. Paul relocated both the bittern and the other Purple Heron at the seaward hide end. From here we observed 2 adult Purple Heron and the adult male Little Bittern! The bittern left the herons and flew off towards Higher Moors.
  There were also 4 Coot (very high number here) 6 Teal and my first 3 House Martin of the year.
 
 Also today, Will Wagstaff had a Stone Curlew on Shipmans down, Bryher

  Graham Gorden had an adult Purple Heron over St Agnes towards Gugh at 18.00 last night. It is thought at the time that it was the adult that was on St Mary's yesterday goin for a wonder. Now it is believed to be a new bird that had just arrived that Graham observed and today it found the St Mary's individual.

For over an hour, we observed this adult male Little Bittern feeding at close range

 

It successfully caught a mullet 

While a few meters away from the Bittern, this adult Purple Heron also put in a very good performance for us all

This is the other adult Purple Heron which appears to have less plumes on the side and neck

and always stayed at the far end of the pool

Here is the Little Bittern and one of the Purple Herons in the same frame. Is this first time these two species have been photographed together in the UK?

In two days, from two, to three, to 4 Coot are now at Porth Hellick

These two artist are top class but putting them together is amazing stuff! The 12 track effort was recorded at Pink Duck Studios in beautiful Burbank, CA and will be released by Ipecac Recordings. For those who are unfamiliar with Garwood, he has been described in the UK press as Lanegan's "spiritual cousin across the Atlantic waters." In fact, Lanegan had the following fine words to share about his latest musical partner.