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.