The start of another birding year and all those common birds that I wasn't interested in yesterday become important again. I have to see them for the new year list. It doesn't make any sense but I do it every year. I get home from the first day out birding thinking that I won't make a list this year. Then I realise that there are a couple of birds that I expected to see that were missing. Sometime in the next few days I go out looking for them and before you know it the year list has started.
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| Blackbird joins the Year List |
This year was no exception. Skylark, Common Gull, Chaffinch, Black-tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher, Buzzard, Brent Goose, all birds I would normally have expected to see at the places I visited. These were all picked up within a few days but by then the list is running.
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| Water Rail |
Equally interesting are the birds that you do see. I found Water Rail on my first days birding, when last year I didn't manage to find it until the end of November. Better still I had Bearded Tits by mid January when some years I do not get to see them at all.
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| Bearded Tit |
I have seen them at various places but Farlington Marsh seems to be the most reliable location and the best if you want pictures. It's still not easy, these two images are the best of around forty shots taken. In all the rest the reeds have blown in front of the bird just as I took the picture or there are heavy shadows or too many burnt out areas spoiling the pictures. You have to get the timing right. Is it skill or just playing the odds. Take enough pictures and you are bound to get lucky eventually.
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| Bearded Tit |
A few good waders about, this Greenshank found on the Adur in Shoreham and a regular in the channel running alongside the houseboats.
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| Greenshank |
A quick visit to the North Wall at Pagham Harbour gave me sight of the Cattle Egrets coming in to roost with an added bonus of this Glossy Ibis flying in just before they arrived. I had hoped for sight of a Barn Owl which would have given me some detail in the pictures rather than the silhouette of dark feathered Ibis. Just as well it has a distinctive shape which along with the curved bill make the identification easy.
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| Glossy Ibis |
A brief sea watch from Church Norton beach added Slavonian Grebe, Red-throated Diver, Red-breasted Mergansers and Razorbill but no picture opportunities. The Razorbill below was taken at Sovereign Harbour.
Covid, Moths, Orchids and a reluctance to travel long distances to see unusual birds has resulted in significant drops in my number of sightings over the past few years. I can't get excited by 5 or 10 kilometer patches but I do feel there is more to see within my immediate area. It will be interesting to see how the bird list develops over the year.
