The sudden fusillade of camera shutter-releases being fired in association with any movement (at all) of this Eurasian Bittern Botaurus stellaris will reinforce the impression (should it be needed) that good sightings of these secretive birds are at something of a premium. Most of their activities other than capturing prey occur in a slow and measured fashion behind a camouflage shield of Phragmites reeds into which these birds blend so perfectly that they are sometimes difficult to see in plain sight! One trick is to look at the reflections as these are sometimes easier to spot than the birds themselves.There is often a great deal of waiting required to see these birds at all - even in favoured locations such as the London Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Barnes. One would therefore need to be lucky in order to record their activities without any cameras being fired and the photographer also indulged in this practice (otherwise there would not have been any still photographs in this presentation). It was a matter of sheer good fortune that the Bittern decided to shake itself down immediately after he had switched to the video setting on his SLR.