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.

Yellow-browed Warbler

 

I went looking for the Yellow-browed Warbler at the Patching Sewage Works on Tuesday. It was part of a hyperactive flock consisting of two Firecrests, probably half a dozen Goldcrests and a number of Chiffchaffs including at least one possible Siberian. Seeing it was easy enough but getting a good shot was near impossible.

Checking my pictures later that evening I think I did get one picture of it, as below. Yellow supercilium, dark eye stripe, brown legs rather than the Chiffchaffs black and the hint of a pale wing-bar, but without getting the double wing bar in the shot, I cannot be sure. There was a good picture of it published on Twitter which was a close match, even showing the thin brown line breaking the supercilium just behind the eye.

Am I happy - no - I want a better record shot. If it stops raining I will have to go back for another go.

Possible Yellow-browed Warbler

One bonus from the visit was that I picked up a half decent shot of a Firecrest. Another bird that I see often enough but rarely manage to photograph.

Firecrest

Other pictures taken recently

Marsh Tit

Siskin

Skylark

Spotted Redshank

Wren

Red-legged Partridge

And a couple more of the Barn Owl from  a revisit on Tuesday evening.

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

It was good to see the Barn Owl again but the lighting was not so good and most of the pictures were blurred or grainy.

Barn Owl

 

A walk on the downs north of the Burgh had not proved to be very rewarding. A small flock of Yellowhammers, lots of Chaffinches, the rear ends of a few Grey Partridges and some distant Red Kites and Buzzards. Poor return for the distance covered but on approaching the dew pond, on the return leg, a Short-eared Owl perched in a distant tree did at least offer picture opportunities.

Short-eared Owl

Distant it was and distant it stayed, quartering the field but not really coming any closer. Fortunately the photographic session was rescued by a much more obliging Barn Owl that appeared on the scene.

Barn Owl

The owl made a number of passes hunting along the hedge lines and the edges of the set asides. Barn Owls are said to have poor eyesight but on daylight hunts they always seem to favour the sun coming over their shoulder, so perhaps using sight to supplement their usual location of prey by sound. 

Whatever the reason I usually end up with about ninety percent of the photographs with burnt out wings and bodies and with faces in deep shadow. Fortunately this one stayed around long enough for me to get a few reasonable shots.

The picture above had to be included. The owl got the pose just right but the picture does not quite make the grade. The eye and claws are sharp but the wings are blurred on the top edges and the picture will not stand much enlargement.

It is also amazing to see how small the owls body is in comparison to its head and legs, although I guess the head, as seen here, is mostly made up of feathers.

Barn Owls are the most widespread species of owl in the world. Twenty to thirty subspecies are recognised by the various authorities, with the one found in Western Europe being Tyto alba. Strange then, that the owl is recognised as being a nocturnal feeder in Europe but is regularly seen feeding during daylight hours in the UK. 

Whatever the reason for its daytime appearances, it is a welcome sight and a great bird to photograph.

Common Redstart

Monday and we were out looking for a potential five year ticks. Top of the list was the Black-winged Stilt, on the Posbrook Floods, just south of Titchfield. It wasn't there and nor were most of the others that we were targeting but we did at least get to see the Barn Owl roosting in the split tree.

Barn Owl

A combination of bad timing and farming activity resulted in none of the other birds being present but the day was rescued by finding this stunning male Common Redstart in the church yard at Church Norton.

Common Redstart

You just need one good picture opportunity and the whole day looks a lot brighter.

Fortunately we had made the right call on the Black-winged Stilt and had moved on after about an hour of searching. We were concerned that it could be roosting in amongst the reeds or perhaps have moved down stream into Titchfield Haven but it does not seem to have been relocated for the rest of the day. If we had stayed we may well have missed the Redstart.

Kumlien's Revisited

It had to be revisited. I know that however good the picture I take, there is always a better one out there waiting to be taken. BUT .... to wake up and find that everyone has better pictures than you! The excuses start, poor light, bird too far away, luck of being in the right place at the right time, I only wanted a record shot,....no you failed.

So it was back to Littlehampton for another go at the Kumlien's Gull. The first hour or so was spent at the East Beach sitting in the car under torrential rain. When it eventually stopped the gulls started to appear but there were not as many as yesterday and there was no sign of the Kumlien's. We did get a flyby from the Glaucous Gull but it was out of range of the cameras. A pity as it really looks elegant in flight.

The only consolation, a Guillemot, paddling past close inshore. A great view as I had never really seen its swimming action before.

Guillemot

Then we got a shout from Owen Mitchell on the west side of the river to say that they had found it on the beach there. What to do? Its a couple of miles drive through the town centre to get across the twenty metres of water that separated us from the bird. We went, and of course by the time we got there it had flown. No one had managed to track it but it was probably sitting back over on the other side of the river where we had just come from.

This time we waited and after about an hour it suddenly reappeared.

Juvenile Kumlien's Gull

No excuses this time, the light was good, the bird was posing well. There is still the fear that you haven't managed to capture the image but this time everything was OK.

When you first arrive, identifying the Kumlien's amongst a thousand other gulls looks impossible. What you are looking for is the juvenile without the black tail and once seen it's fairly easy to find again. The difficulty is when its not there and you are trying to search a large flock that is continually relocating.

Juvenile Kumlien's Gull on the left - no black tail

Coming in to land

Carrying a Whelk

Posing for a last picture

It had been a good mornings birding and we decided to relocate to Beeding Brooks to see if we could locate our first Owls of the year. We had a couple more hours waiting about in the cold but eventually had views of two Barn Owls and one Short-eared Owl. It was almost dark when they appeared and impossible conditions for a decent shot so just treat the following as a taste of what could have been. I think this calls for another revisited blog.

Short-eared Owl

Barn Owl

Even More Barn Owls

A bit of a mixed bag today. I went out first thing looking for a Snowbunting reported on Goring Beach. The tide was out leaving a big area to search and I ended up leaving without seeing it. It was relocated later in the day so I am hoping it will still be there at the weekend but it is an area popular with dog walkers so it may well move on.

I did a few jobs in the house and then went to look at some Waxwings that had been feeding on berry bushes in Salvington Road Worthing. They were still around with more than twenty of them sitting on Aeriels and feeding in the bushes. However, the location on a relatively busy town road was not really appealing and I left without taking any pictures.

 Feeling a bit disappointed I decided to go back to Waltham Brooks to have another go at the Barn Owls. Only two flying tonight that I could see but I did get a few good shots.

My third visit to the brooks to photograph the Barn Owls and I can see an improvement in technique and in results across the three sessions. Clearly a case of practice makes perfect although perhaps I need a few more attempts before I claim perfection.

More Barn Owls

Being disappointed with Monday's Barn Owl pictures and with the weather looking reasonable I decided to go back to Waltham Brooks on Tuesday evening and have another go. On the way I called in at Swanbourne lake in the hope of seeing the Firecrests. None about but I did see an unusual leucistic Jackdaw.

Leucistic Jackdaw

Leucism is a condition which causes pigment defects, making some of the feathers white or very pale. Unlike albinism the eye colour is normal. I have seen this a number of times in Blackbirds but this is the first time in a Jackdaw. There are suggestions on the web that this is becoming more common in many breeds of bird.


Recent trips out have resulted in a shortage of the "small brown birds" but arriving at Waltham Brooks I was pleased to see a lot of movement in the scrub and headgerows.
This Chiffchaff posed nicely to have its picture taken. My first sighting for the year.

Chiffchaff

I also had a Goldcrest sitting on the fence in the open within six feet of me. It must have known that I am desperate to get a good picture of a Goldcrest. My Camera was out of reach and even if I could have got to it the bird would have been too close to focus on. We watched each other for about 20 seconds and then it disappeared into the gathering gloom. I don't think I have ever seen a Goldcrest stay still for that length of time.

 
The first Barn Owl appeared about 3.45 with two more following quickly behind. I had picked a good spot and had a couple of flybys within about 15 feet but unfortunately I only had the sun for about a quarter of an hour. After that I was back to the previous days problems of high ISO and slow shutter speeds.

I had not realised how difficult it would be to keep the Owl in focus, particularly when it was heading straight for me, and I had a lot of wasted shots. It is difficult to know when to try to take a picture and when it is best just to stand and watch the bird. You can miss a lot hiding behind the camera.

I also found that I needed the sun to get a reasonable shutter speed but with the sun out the face and leading edge of the wing were over exposed. These pictures have all required work in photoshop to reduce the contrast.

One good picture and standing in the cold for a couple of hours is all forgotten

There have been reports on the Sussex Ornithological Society of one of the Waltham Brooks Barn Owls having something sticking to or sticking out of its chest. This is visible on the picture below. I have no idea what it is but it has been there for at least a few days and does not seem to be restricting the birds movement. Lets hope it is not doing any long term damage.

My initial disappointment at the quality of this second round of pictures has dissipated slightly as I realised that I could recover a few of the pictures. There is no sun tonight but I think I will soon be going back for another go. The good thing about photographing birds is that you always know there is a better picture out there waiting to be taken.

Fulmars and Barn Owls

A day of two halves yesterday with some "nearly" great shots in fading light at the end of the day.

We started by heading over to Eastbourne so that Dave could pick up the Boneparte's Gull and were already feeling a little disappointed as the promised day of sunshine was not materialising. The gull was obliging and we soon had a few shots in the bag although as with my previous visit the overcast sky did not make for a very colourful picture.

Bonaparte's Gull

We then worked our way back along the coast in a westerly direction through Beachy Head, Birling Gap, Seaford, and Tide Mills. All great birding locations, but with showers and overcast sky very little appeared to be flying or visible and the day was looking increasingly disappointing.

Fortunately as we arrived at Newhaven West Beach the sun came out briefly and we found Fulmars inspecting the nesting sites on the cliffs.

 

Fulmars - pairing up

Guarding their territory

Having had some lunch and feeling more positive we headed off to Arlington reservoir in the hope of seeing the Slavonian Grebe that had been present there for a couple of weeks. Scanning from the picnic area by the car park we spotted what looked like a red headed Smew but our hopes were quickly dashed when the telescope revealed it to a rusty buoy sitting low in the water.

Fortunately the Slavonian Grebe was still present if somewhat distant. We did consider getting closer to get a picture but were already sinking into the mud in what appeared to be one of the drier sections of the footpath. Thinking better of it and still with some hope of a sunny evening we decided to finish the day at Waltham Brooks looking for Barn Owls.

Two Barn Owls did made an appearance at about 3.45 quartering the brooks but some distance away. A third joined later. We managed to get closer but the light was poor and even at ISO1600 I was only getting around 1/50 sec. Not much use when you are trying to hold a 500mm lens and lens hood steady in a gusting wind. The following pictures are all heavily cropped

ISO 1600  f8  1/60 sec

This is where you pretend you were not after quality portrait shots but were really looking for blurry artistic pictures.

And finally, I had to include the lost opportunity of the day. As we watched one of the Barn Owls hunting, a Ring Tailed Hen Harrier appeared to dispute the territory. Nice aerobatics but no contact and this is the best of about forty pictures.

If only the forecast of a sunny evening had been correct - but then I will probably be going back late this afternoon for another go.