14.00-15.00 a much better day than yesterday,clear and calm.After yesterdays rain and talk of flooding,I wanted to see just how high the Medway was.So I parked in the Brookland car-park and walked out to the river from there.As I neared the sunken marsh I could see a flock of B h Gulls flying around over it,so I guessed the river must have gone over the bank and flooded the marsh (which happens quite frequently) but this time the marsh resembled a lake rather than a marsh,very much higher than I had seen it before but apart from the gulls very little else was to be seen,although one Chiiffchaff was of note.I then walked down the bank in the northeast corner of Abbey Mead which was also higher than usual and just as I reached the bottom I flushed a Woodcock from the waters edge.I then moved a few more steps and had the fright of my life as a Bittern flew up from very close by,luckily I had my camera handy and managed to fire off a few shots as it flew away towards the southern end of the lake.