Ring-necked Duck

The last few weeks have failed to deliver any good bird photography opportunities and very few good birds. There have been one or two in the area migrating through but they have not stayed long and I have failed to connect with most of them. Meanwhile my birding buddy Dave has been off in Tenerife filling his memory cards with Blue Chaffinch and other endemics (see here).

All a bit depressing really. So today I decided on a trip down to Dungeness with the main target the Garganey reported on Cook's Pool. "Should have been here yesterday" - there was no sign of the Garganey all day. However, I did get some decent views of the Ring-necked Duck. I had taken pictures of it in January and had seen it a couple of times since but it had always been distant. This time it was close to the front edge of the pool.

Ring-necked Duck

I then set off on a walk around the RSPB Reserve searching all the pools and headgerows. Lots of birds but nothing unusual and all a bit distant. Although from the reports there was an Osprey through just after I left the area.


I did think about going down the the lighthouse area to look for Black Redstarts but in the end decided to spend the afternoon at Rye Harbour. A chance for a nice long walk and some more very distant birds. It is clearly the place to go if you like Black-headed Gulls but there were also good numbers of Mediterranean Gulls, Avocets, and Ringed Plover amongst the other birds. It's strange how we just take Avocets for granted these days but they are a really elegant bird.

Avocets

Skylark

Black Redstarts seem to have been around in good numbers this year. The bird below was taken in the churchyard at Church Norton.

And a Long-tailed Tit, always nice to photograph.

All a bit quiet really. I am begining to remember why I always look forward to the start of the Butterfly and Dragonfly seasons.

Black Tern

I have had a few trips out birding over the past week but they have mostly been on sea watches or looking for Terns arriving on the coast. Their have been a few good birds about but the picture opportunities have been limited.

Chichester Gravel pits are always a good place to look at this time of year and true to form on Sunday there were hundreds of birds hawking over the water. Black Tern and Little Gull were the highlights but dozens of Common Terns, Swifts, House Martins, Swallows, and a few Sand Martins added to the excitement.

All the birds were distant but I still managed a few record shots.

Black Tern and Common Tern

The Common Tern below helped me to a new first, the first time I have photographed a flying insect at about 100 metres. I knew that the Terns were agile in flight but I hadn't realise that they could also turn their heads through a hundred and eighty degrees.

It would be interesting to see the equation of energy expended over energy gained!

Common Tern

My sea watches at Selsey Bill did not prove very fruitful. I saw plenty of Terns going through but in general things were quiet and I also managed to miss the few Skuas that were present.

Common Tern

Little Tern

The Breech Pool at Pagham North Wall had a little more water in it when we visited on Sunday but most of the bird life seems to have abandoned the area. There were a few Sedge Warblers in the reeds, one Little Ringed Plover and a single colour ringed Avocet that flew soon after we arrived.

And today, Monday, was meant to be distant shots of the Red-rumped Swallow at West Marsh Eastbourne. Except nobody thought to tell the swallow and I had three hours staring at a birdless lake and didn't take the camera out once.

Not much of a birding week but the Black Tern was good to see. I thought about not doing a blog but then this is my diary of what I see and you have to accept the bad days along with all the good ones.

Medmerry Black-winged Stilt

I was in two minds about going out today. The weather did not look so good and the birding has been a bit slow of late.The decider was a pair of Black-winged Stilts still being reported at Medmerry. I had seen a pair down at Dungeness a few weeks ago but these were Sussex birds and so a patch tick.

I started the day off at Pagham Harbour Visitors Centre with another two hours wasted trying to get a picture of the resident Cuckoo. Again I had plenty of views but I just could not get it in the viewfinder either perched up or flying - very frustrating. The consolation was a Wood Sandpiper on the back of the Ferry Pool. I managed a couple of record shots but it was too far away for a decent picture. Fortunately a couple of friendly birders let me have a look through their telescope and I was able to see the diagnostic features.

No pictures of the Cuckoo or Wood Sandpiper so you will have to make do with a Chaffinch

The Black-winged Stilts had been reported on the scrape at the end of the footpath on the Earnley side of Medmerry. It's a long walk in, particularly if the birds have flown when you get there, but if you don't look you don't get to see so walk it was. I am glad I went. The Stilts were still there as were some other interesting birds although they were all a bit distant.

Black-winged Stilts

Given that the environment is only about a year old the bird population is building up nicely. I just hope these are new birds and not just ones that have been attracted away from Pagham Harbour. There were a number of Avocets there and they appeared to be sitting on nests. I only saw one younster but that was being well cared for by the parent who was seeing off any Gulls or Crows that came close.

Avocet

The Avocets are very protective parents and even the Stilts were expected to keep their distance.

Not really a threat but see it off anyway

There was also a Curlew Sandpiper putting in an occasional appearance. Again very distant but this time the record shot is just about acceptable. You can see the diagnostic features, long black legs, pale stripe over the eye, slightly downcurved bill. The white underside is gradually disappearing as the bird moults into its red summer plumage

Curlew Sandpiper

I had a couple of hours left and a choice of things to do. I could head off to Whiteways and look for the Turtle Dove or have a look around Church Norton for a Flycatcher or other migrants. I chose Church Norton which was probably the wrong decision as the Turtle Dove was found at Whiteways.

Nothing was found by me at Church Norton apart from the rather odd behaviour of a cock pheasant. He was stood on one of the old gravestones as I walked through the church yard and he was still there when I came back half an hour later. I went over to investigate and he was rather reluctant to move away, letting me get within five or six feet before he moved off. There was no name on the gravestone, it had worn away with time, but I did wonder if he had found the remains of an old game keeper or poacher and had been dancing on their grave.

Pheasant on gravestone

I also took a couple more pictures of butterflies when I was out on Monday. Not enough for a blog but they are worth adding here.

Common Blue

The Wall Brown has to be one of the hardest to photograph. I am used to chasing Brimstones or Orange Tips over long distances but at least they stay at a reasonable height. The Wall likes baked hard bare mud where it waits until I get down alongside it laying on my belly when it then takes off and lands ten feet away. This is a game that we pursued over a couple of hours in the hot sun on Monday afternoon. I got my record shots but it was hard work and I am going to have to do it all over again to try to improve on the ones that I got.

Wall Brown

Wall Brown closed wing shot.

Black-winged Stilt

We set off today with rather ambitious plans. Rye Harbour for the Kentish Plover and Little Stint; Dungeness for the Black-winged Stilt, and the Little, Arctic, and Common Terns; and Sandwich Bay for the Blue-winged Teal and Garganey. Its not really us, its not what we do. Its a twitch, there would be little time for photography and little time to observe the birds, but we had to go, the Black-winged Stilt alone was worth the trip.

The day did not go to plan. We never made it to Sandwich Bay, we wasted time chasing a bird that was not on our list, and we wasted time because neither of us was willing to move on without getting pictures of the birds, however bad those pictures turned out to be. But we did see some great birds.

Our first stop, Rye Harbour, was where it all began to go wrong. We could not find the Little Stint or the Kentish Plover and we should have accepted that and moved on. Instead we were tipped off by the warden to a Temminck's Stint and Curlew Sandpiper. A long walk and extensive search and an hour and a half later we had little to show for our efforts. We saw Avocets, distant Little and Common Terns. and a Whimbrel but none of our target birds.

Whimbrel

Avocet

In the end we had to accept defeat and move on even though three of the birds we were searching for had been see by others. The consolation prize was that Dave managed to pick up  a House Martin as we arrived back in the car park, another first for the year.

A quick stop at Scotney Pits gave us nothing new and on arrival at Dungeness we headed straight off to see the Black-winged Stilt.

Black-winged Stilt

The pair were still there so it was a life tick for me. We should have been able to get some great pictures but just after we arrived the Nuclear Power Station started venting steam and the noise caused most of the birds to relocate. The Stilts were still visible but they were further away. I don't know if it was the beauty of the birds in flight or the thought that I might be getting showered with nuclear particles but I just watched them go and forgot to take a picture.

Black-winged Stilts

There were a  small group of birders gathered there but most were waiting for another bird, a Wood Sandpiper, that was skulking in the reeds. As before we could not let it go and we stood around for about two hours waiting for the bird to appear. The best shot I got in that time was the one below. People who had seen it earlier confirmed that it was a Wood Sandpiper but there is nothing here that I can use to identify it.

Possible Wood Sandpiper

Even when the power station stopped venting steam about an hour later the bird stayed hidden in the reeds. Fortunately there were plenty of Whitethroats, Sedge Warblers and Cettie's to keep us busy although as usual the Cettie's managed to avoid having their pictures taken.

Sedge Warbler

Whitethroat

Having wasted a couple of hours and with the rain setting in we aborted the last part of our trip and retired to the ARC hide. This gave us Black Terns and there were probably Arctic Terns as well but we could not separate those from the Common Terns at the distances involved.

So not a completely successful trip but I came away with six year and one life tick so I can't really complain.

Avocets

Beautiful spring weather this morning, sunshine, clear air, and all the right conditions for photography. Just a pity then that the best bird of the day, the Avocet, is the one bird you really need overcast conditions for. Its a really elegant bird and great to watch but the camera just cannot cope with the huge contrast between the black and white in bright sunlight.

Avocet - Ferry Pool Pagham Harbour

Still with the birds going through their mating ritual and with the possibility of successful breeding pairs on the Ferry Pool it was worth getting a record.

Seeing off the other contenders

Female bending forward and lowering her head into the water in submission (or as an invitation?)

Mating

Followed by the kiss - touching bills

There were no real signs of the migration getting into full swing. The week has proved to be a bit slow and today was no different.We did see a few Wheatears but there were no picture opportunities. Chiffchaffs could be heard all around, and the usual suspects were much in evidence.

Chiffchaff

Linnet

Treecreeper 

Song Thrush

The warm weather today did see more butterflies on the wing so there should be some good picture opportunities soon and Dragonflies are not far away.

Comma

Spotted Crake

Wednesday saw myself and Dave heading off to North Kent in search of the Lesser Yellowlegs reported at Cliffe Pools and the Spotted Crake at Oare Marshes. They were both new sites for us and the first, Cliffe Pools, did give us a few problems, both in the location of the entrance and car parking areas. Take a good map if you decide to go there. We ended up walking a couple of miles to get to the location of the bird, only to find that we could have driven to within a few yards of the viewing point.

There were three birders there when we arrived including Mick Davis and John Stanton. Although the Yellowlegs had been giving good views it had just been spooked and had flown to the back of the pool which was a bit of a disappointment. You could just about make out the bird looking through the binoculars but even with a telescope I could not really make out the distinguishing features. All I could say was that it was something like a Redshank but with lighter coloured legs.

It's always a bit difficult when you hit this situation. I know it was the Yellowlegs that I was looking at and Mick and John had "kindly" shown me pictures of what I had just missed, but my criteria is - see and identify the bird on the spot or take away suitable pictures for later identification. Given the lighting conditions and the distance involved there was no chance of a picture and at the moment I am not good enough to make the identification. So I dipped on this one. Disappointing as the same thing happened to me recently with the Sykes's/Booted Warbler at Climping.

Other than the Yellowlegs and a lot of Great Crested Grebes there was little else to look at on the site. I am sure it will be a great location in the winter but there seemed little point in spending much time there now.

Our second location was Oare Marshes. Easier to find and bird-wise a totally different prospect. If I had been wondering why there were few waders on the south coast I now had the answer, they were all roosting at Oare Marshes. It was difficult to take a picture that conveys the sight and sounds and we spent some time just looking at the roosting birds and various flocks as they circled over the marsh pools.

A small selection of the birds present

Some of the hundred or so Avocets on the marsh pools

No landing space for the Black-tailed Godwits - I decided not to count them

After a time we remembered why we had come to the site and set off for the East hide to see if the Spotted Crake was around. We spoke to a couple of birders who had been waiting an hour or so for a sighting. Fortunately we had timed it just right and the Crake made an appearance albeit very much hidden by the reeds.

Spotted Crake

In its usual reed bed habitat

The other birders all moved on and we were left waiting for the next picture opportunity. You always believe that the next picture will be better and this time we were proved to be right as the Spotted Crake made its way out onto the bank and disappeared under a thick bramble.

Emerging onto the grass bank

Out in the open

 We stood around feeling pleased with ourselves and thinking that we would not see it again. We started packing to leave and then it stepped out onto the path in front of us and stood looking at us for a few seconds. Do you reach for the camera and risk scaring it away or do you just enjoy the moment? In practice we did something in-between the two and managed to scare the bird away without getting the photograph. Still a great moment.

A final few minutes looking at the birds as the sun started to go down finished of what had turned out to be a great day.

Ruff

Golden Plover

Golden Plover