Stejneger's Stonechat

In January 2017, Dave I visited  Dungeness twice and spent a good part of that time searching the area around the quarry for a suspected Siberian Stonechat, possibly a Stejneger's. We had checked the identification features but really had no idea if we would be able to identify the bird if we caught sight of it. 

We needn't have worried. We didn't manage to see it and although disappointed at the waste of time did have to smile when we subsequently found that DNA  analysis had shown it to be a European Stonechat. 

I had a sense of "deja vu" when another possible was reported at Medmerry. Researching the identification features again, left me with no more confidence than for the Dungeness bird, that I would be able to make the identification. Did I really want to spend time looking for one Stonechat, amongst a lot of other Stonechats, that I probably wouldn't recognise as being anything out of the ordinary anyway.

I left it a couple of days but in the end I had to go. It was on my patch and it would help heal the open wound left by the failure at Dungeness.

 

The directions to the thistle Field were easy to follow and there were already four or five people watching when I arrived. All very promising but the downside was that there were a lot of Stonechats in the field and it was a very bright morning. Not the sort for looking for subtle differences in feather hues let alone trying to get a photograph of them.

After a couple of false starts I did manage to pick up one bird that looked different. It looked more like a Whinchat with strong supercilium's but with a broad white throat. Further observation showed that overall the bird looked paler than those around it with less colour on the belly and with an unstreaked apricot rump.

Viewed from other angles the supercillium barely showed up and at times I thought I was getting two different birds mixed up. You had to follow it until the angle changed and the white reappeared.

To me it looked a good candidate and other more experienced birders had similar views. Clearly it stood out from the other European Stonechats around it but was the variation within the limits of the European species? More worrying, would I have just written it of as another Stonechat if I hadn't been told that it was there.

A DNA sample had been collected the day before and the only way the bird will be accepted is on the basis of this sample. 

Watch this space............ The news is not good, no DNA could be extracted from the sample so it doesn't count. Looked good at the time though.

Lammergeier

 

I had just arrived home from photographing the Grey Phalarope at Widewater when a message popped up on Twitter to say that the Lammergeier had been seen near East Dean. I knew it was travelling south and I had joked about getting a garden tick, but I hadn't really expected to get a chance to see it. The obvious route for it was down through Kent and out across the channel.

There really wasn't any choice, I jumped back in the car and headed off towards East Dean which is about a 50 minute journey. I pulled over just after crossing the Exceat bridge to check the Twitter messages for updates and realised that it had moved and was flying above the Friston Forest. Quite frustrating really as I was sitting in Friston Forest car park and couldn't see anything through the trees.

I had to retreat to more open ground at the Exceat bridge to get a view out over the forest.

The Lammergeier was distant, only really visible with binoculars, but there was no mistaking it as glided over the forest accompanied by a flock of crows and at least one Buzzard.

I tried driving along the Litlington Road but couldn't get any views of it so ended up at High and Over along with a lot of other birders and watched it from there. It was distant all the time I was observing but it is amazing what detail the camera can pick up given that it was barely visible without the binoculars.

I watched until it went to roost in a tree just north east of the Long Man Brewery on the Litlington road. It had made one close pass at High and Over before I arrived there, so I am sure there will be some good pictures about. There is also the chance to go and see it leave the roost in the morning but I get the feeling that it might be a bit busy along there. Perhaps if it is still around in a couple of days I might give it another go.

The main event of the day was meant to be photographing the Grey Phalarope but that ended up being a bit overshadowed by the Lammergeier. Still, an excellent bird for the local patch and well worth recording.

As with most Phalaropes it showed little fear of people, often approaching within a few feet of the observers.

It makes it easy to get good pictures but perhaps a little less rewarding in that the skill element necessary to get that picture is non existent.

I also find that I am starting to gather a lot of  images of these "rare" but easy to photograph birds. The Red-backed Shrike is another example.

Great bird though and who can turn down the opportunity of adding just a few more good pictures to the collection.

Lapland Bunting

 

Actually the blog covers the Lapland Bunting and a juvenile Purple Heron. No UK life ticks all year then two come along in just two days.

Better still I had really good views of the Bunting. This is a bird where I was not confident in making the identification. I knew that I would need either plenty of time to check the features or some good pictures to enable me to check later. Spook it after a quick view and there would always be an element of doubt.

The location was Beachy Head where the bird had been reported a number of times over the previous three or four days. I arrived early and headed towards the trig point which was one of its favoured spots. There were a couple of people already there who pointed me in the right direction but I just couldn't locate it. It was only when they made a second effort that I realised the bird was in long grass about twenty feet away instead of the twenty metre area I had been scanning.

I spent a frustrating half hour with just an occasional view of a head popping out of the long grass but eventually it showed well.....

and finally came out onto some open ground where I could get some better pictures. 

I had always thought this was quite a timid bird that was easily flushed but this one did not seem at all concerned at our presence. It was happily feeding for the whole time I watched and did not even move when some walkers passed within about ten feet of it.

Lapland Bunting has been on my hit list for a while now. It is one that I feel I should have seen and I have come close on a couple of occasions but have always just managed to miss it. It was nice to be able to cross it off my list and even better to get such views.

If I had good views of the Lapland Bunting then the juvenile Purple Heron that I saw the previous day was the complete opposite. Rather than stand around all day waiting for it to come out of the reeds I decided to go along early evening to watch it go to roost. Less time wasted and a better chance of seeing the bird but the downside would be the reduced chance of a picture in the lower light levels.

I just hadn't realised quite how dark it would be when the bird went to roost. I arrived at Burton Mill Pond at about five thirty with the expectation that it would fly sometime between then and six thirty. It was actually six thirty five when it appeared and it was just visible through the gloom flying above the reeds. 

Fortunately I had spent the waiting time, gradually turning up the ISO on the camera from my usual 400 setting until I got to 16000. The pictures are not good but at least you can see that it is a Purple Heron. At the time it was too dark to be sure but the camera view is a lot brighter than the image I was seeing.

I am amazed the camera could even focus at these light levels let alone catch the bird in flight. It's not all good though, as enlarging the subjects gives a very grainy image.

at roost

I have seen Purple Herons before in Spain and in South Africa. Got a slightly better picture as well but it's nice to get the UK tick.

Hippo Hollow South Africa 2016

So a great couple of days and two UK life ticks. The experience wasn't even spoilt by not being down at Pagham Harbour when Nighthawk came through. You have to leave some birds for another day.