Water Pipit

I see Water Pipits most years but but not many of those sightings are in Sussex. I usually end up having to visit Rainham Marshes or the watercress beds at Alresford in Hampshire to be sure of seeing the bird. So Saturday, I was pleased to see a tweet from Bola, reporting one as being present in the horse field on his Climping patch.

I couldn't make it Saturday but I was down there before seven the next morning to see if it was still around. The thunderstorms over the Saturday night had probably prevented it from moving on and it was easy enough to find. Getting a picture was a lot harder. It was either a long distant shot from the field gate or try to get a shot over a high hedge with branches and wire fencing obstructing the view.

Neither option was really satisfactory but in the end I did get a reasonable record shot even though most of my attempts ended up in the wast bin.

Water Pipit

Earlier in the week I had visited Pulborough Brooks and Pagham Harbour in an attempt to connect with some of the Spring migrants that were starting to arrive. Whitethroats and Sedge Warblers were around in good numbers but Hirundines were limited with House Martins being the only ones I saw.

Whitethroat

Sedge Warbler

Other nice birds around, a Great White Egret from the Hanger hide at Pulborough Brooks.

Great White Egret

Kestrel

Linnet

Treecreeper

a lot of very vocal Dunnocks

and a few Buzzards soaring on the thermals.

 also my first Cuckoo of the year heard calling from the North Wall and lots of Cetti's heard but not seen - or at least not seen long enough to photograph.