A couple of good birds in my patch recently with mud being the main theme. The first a Bluethroat showing well at Brooklands Park in Worthing.
These are fairly common on the continent but rarer in this country. This is only the second one I have seen and unfortunately both have been the white spot subspecies. I am still looking for a red spot which tend to put in an appearance later in the year.
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| Bluethroat - Luscinia svecica |
The first Bluethroat I saw was very secretive making only brief appearances then quickly retreating back into cover, making it difficult to photograph. The Brooklands bird was much more obliging and was happy playing in the mud whilst an admiring group of birders watched and snapped their pictures (including me!)
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| Bluethroat - Luscinia svecica |
The second bird was another mud lover, a Least Sandpiper. A new bird for my British list although I have seen them before in North America.
There have been some good pictures of this bird but unfortunately my sighting on the Medmerry Stilt Pool was quite distant for such a small bird. Even taking the picture on a 300mm lens and 2x converter I had to crop the picture a lot more than I would have liked.
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| Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla |
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| Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla |
And to finish, one I see most years but for which I rarely manage to get close up views, a Brambling. It must be something about the colours but it always feels like a happy day when I see one.
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| Brambling - Fringilla montifringilla |
