Bonaparte's Gull

 

Wednesday saw Dave and I over at Chichester Gravel Pits looking for the reported Bonaparte's Gull. Initially it didn't look promising. Birders we talked to had not seen it and some were leaving the site thinking that it had moved on. 

We decided to give it an hour of "looking" and eventually were rewarded with sightings but it was not easy. There were a lot of Black-headed Gulls flying mostly at some distance and whilst you could get scope views if they landed on the water, it was difficult to track individual birds whilst flying.

We had an idea of what to look for, a slightly smaller and paler gull with a neat black edge to the wings and a black bill. It's flight was also meant to be different, more like a Little Gull, but this was not so obvious when scanning the Black-headed Gull flock. You often picked up on a bird exhibiting Little Gull like actions only to follow it and realise that it was a Black-headed Gull.

Eventually we picked up on a distant, brighter looking bird and managed to get a couple of pictures showing the features we were looking for, in particular the black bill. Unfortunately it did not come closer during the time we were there but better pictures were obtained later in the day.

I have taken better pictures myself in the past, with the much more obliging bird at Princes Park in Eastbourne back in January 2013 and the 2CY bird at Southampton Riverside Park in 2015.

Bonaparte's Gull - Princes Park Eastbourne 2013 (it is a colour picture)

2CY Bonaparte's Gull - Riverside Park Southampton 2015

Success on the gull proved to be the start of a good days birding. We found the Red-crested Pochards on Ivy Lake, although these again were distant and tucked in under the bank so pictures were not good. 

Garganey

We then went down to Pagham Harbour and saw the Garganey pair on the Severals, picked up Linnets and Sandwich Terns which I hadn't seen yet this year and ended up on the North Wall with Marsh Harriers and a Short-eared Owl.

From a photographic point of view I have had better days but with Spring breaking through and some good birds about we went home happy that evening.

Desert Wheatear

 

Nice surprise today. I was still waiting to see my first Wheatear of the year and what should turn up instead but a Desert Wheatear. Better still it was just a ten minute walk from home, on the beach at Goring Gap.

Ten minutes away it may have been but I didn't hang around. The beach is a big dog walking area and on a sunny Sunday afternoon would be very busy. I was concerned that the bird would be flushed and I would miss it.

Fortunately it's behaviour was similar to previous Desert Wheatears that I have seen. It didn't seem to be bothered by people or dogs and when it was disturbed, it quickly returned to the area in which it had been foraging.

This is probably an inexperienced first winter male and it's a long way from home. Desert Wheatears have breeding grounds in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia and are usually short range migrants staying close to those areas. 

A few do turn up each year in the UK as vagrants but the numbers are small, with only two records per year on average. Why do they travel so far from home? Perhaps they just follow the Northern Wheatears when the migrate back from Africa to Northern Europe.

Whatever the reason for it being here this was a great bird to see so my thanks to the finder for reporting it so quickly. A rare vagrant it may be but this is now my second within walking distance of home.

Owls

    Half way through March and I hadn't seen an owl this year. They were being reported from various locations but perhaps not in the numbers we have seen in previous years. This could be a sign of things to come with the milder winters we now seem to be experiencing.

I had a plan, Short-eared Owl on the north wall at Pagham and Barn Owl at Waltham Brooks. No problem, except that my first visit to the north wall proved to be the only night of the week that the SEO did not show.

I was having a bad week, an earlier trip down to Rye Harbour to see the Green-wing Teal and the Iceland Gull had drawn a blank on both. They were there the day before and the Iceland Gull was there early morning just before I arrived but both had departed never to be seen again. Another case of you should have been here yesterday.

Monday I returned to the North Wall, arriving mid afternoon and finding the SEO already out hunting. I watched it in the distance for about an hour with the light gradually starting to fade. Eventually it made a couple of closer passes and I managed to get a few pictures albeit still a bit distant.

Hawking the field

Diving in for the kill

Tuesday, flushed with my success at Pagham, I headed over to Waltham Brooks mid afternoon hoping to see the Barn Owl in good light. After two and a half hours standing in the middle of the brooks my hopes began to fade along with the light and thoughts of dinner waiting for me back at home had me heading back to the car.

Just before the railway crossing I had one final look and there it was approaching out of the growing gloom. I took a couple of distant photographs. At least you can see that it is a Barn Owl but I wouldn't care to blow it up any further.

Barn Owl

You forget just how lucky you are when you get a close flying Owl in good light. It happens only rarely. Perhaps I should go back for another go.

Lesser Redpoll

As I still hadn't seen a Redpoll along the south coast, or at least not one close enough to photograph, I decided to make a return trip to Warnham. They were still being reported from there but it wouldn't be long before they were heading northwards to their breeding grounds.

I had no trouble finding them with three or four regularly attending the feeders. It was nice to get a record shot  but I have taken better. I was really hoping for a male showing more breeding plumage and a bright red breast or even better a Mealy Redpoll.

Redpoll

I often praise Warnham because of the opportunities to get good pictures of the birds but it does at times start to feel a bit like a zoo with very little skill needed to get the pictures of what are very nearly captive birds.

Having said that I failed to get a picture of my next target, a Marsh Tit. One was (occasionally) visible from the Bullfinch hide but it had a habit of grabbing a seed from the feeder and then disappearing into cover to eat it and it did not stay near the feeders for long.

I did take a picture of a Blue Tit. It's not a bird that I photograph that often but fluffed up against the cold, as it was, it makes one of those nice chocolate box pictures that seem to appeal to so many people.

Blue Tit

And lots of pictures of the usual birds around the feeders.

Nuthatch

Reed Bunting

Siskin

The Bullfinch made one appearance for me. On my last visit it was one show at the Woodpecker hide, this time it was one show at the appropriately named Bullfinch Hide. It didn't make it as far as the feeders this time, being spooked by the sudden movement of some of the other birds there. It took flight and headed out over the golf course never to be seen again.

 

Bullfinch

A strangely disappointing visit. I managed to see a Redpoll and Marsh Tit which were my targets and I came away with some other reasonable pictures. However, the light during the day proved to be a lot duller than I had been expecting. Which means slower shutter speeds, less sharp shots, and no real show stopper pictures. There was also the felling that the area around the hides was very busy for a Monday morning and was turning it into more of a zoo than a nature reserve. For me the reserve actually seems to be, becoming a victim of it's own success by attracting too many people. However, I am sure that for the reserve the increased cash flow and raised profile for nature make it all justified.

Having said that, once you leave the area around the visitors centre and the hides the people soon thin out. I did a circuit of the rest of the reserve and can only remember seeing one other person during the walk. I have a solution, open it at 8am for the birders rather than the current 10am which seems to be more targeted at the "somewhere to go for a short walk and cup of coffee" brigade.

Ring-necked Duck

 

We travelled up to Essex on Thursday and as we had time in hand I thought Sue might be interested to stop off at Priory Park in Reigate. It is a place we had not visited before. Coincidence then 😇 that walking round the pond I spotted an unusual duck which on closer inspection turned out to be a female Ring-necked Duck. It was also fortunate that I had decided to carry my camera.

Ring-necked Duck

A walk around Hornchurch Country Park later in the day gave a good assortment of Gulls, Ducks, and Geese. I was pleased to see a few Egyptian Geese, my first for the year. However, getting a picture for the blog proved a bit difficult, as when I reached into my bag for my camera, it seemed as if every bird in the park came rushing over for a free feed.

Egyptian Goose

Not a bad day then, two year ticks when I had not been expecting to see any birds.