Water Pipit 2

I was a bit disappointed with the shots I took of the Water Pipit. The lighting was good that day but I just did not manage to nail it, so Friday afternoon I went back for another go. It looked OK when I left home but by the time I got to Apuldram the light had gone and it was starting to rain. I took a few quick shots but lack of contrast or dull lighting conditions, meant that when I got home I found that the pictures were not really sharp.

Water Pipit - nice grass but the bird is a bit soft

It looked like a wasted trip but then it's always worth checking every shot. Sometimes when everything seems wrong you just get lucky and I ended up with the shot below. A Water Pipit with attitude.

Earlier in the week we had a day looking for Geese at Scotney and Pett Level. They were all a bit distant for photographs but we did have a successful day for year ticks. White-fronted, Pink-footed, Greylags, Canada, Barnacles, Emperors, but we missed out on the Bean Geese. We had seen the Taiga the week before and only needed the Tundra at Scotney for the full set. We thought we had them but blowing the pictures up on the big screen when we got home they looked more like a couple of juvenile White-fronted than the Tundra Bean Geese we were looking for.

The day also gave us year ticks for Black-throated Diver on Scotney, Red-necked Grebe on a pool at Camber, a Bittern on the ARC Pit at Dungeness, and Bearded Tits at Pett Level.

Bearded Tit

Bittern on the far side of the ARC Pit

Red-necked Grebe

The picture of the Red-necked Grebe was taken at a distance of  of about 230 metres and then heavily cropped. It's not good but it is the best image of this bird that I have ever managed to get.


I think I might be going back for another go at the Water Pipit.

Bearded Tits and Others

I spent most of Sunday over at Farlington Marsh with Dave looking for the White-fronted Geese. We must have searched over a thousand Geese but could find no sign of our target bird and I returned home without a single picture.

The White-fronted were reported again on Monday so we decided to give it another go. There was some encouragement early on when we saw a flock of about sixteen Bearded Tits and also had glimpses of a Cetti's Warbler. A good start but there were no pictures and as lunch time approached it was becoming clear that the White-fronted were not on the Marsh.

All very depressing and it was looking like another days birding with very little to show for it. Then out on the marsh Dave saw his lucky black rabbit from last year and suddenly lots of birds started to appear.

A Marsh Harrier flying over, a Buzzard sitting out on the marsh, and a Kestrel that was to give us some great views. We found the Kestrel first sitting in one of the bushes by the side of the path.

Kestrel

Later we watched her hunting from another tree then catching and eating some unfortunate small mammal.

Hunting

Decapitating its lunch

Trying for the big mouthful

Resting after lunch

The bird seemed unconcerned about people and even allowed a dog walker to pass within about twenty feet whilst it was sitting in the tree just above head hight.

Whilst watching the Kestrel we also had a pair of Stonechats close by on the sea wall.

Stonechat

Stonechat

We also managed to refind the Bearded Tit flock we had seen early in the morning. They were moving deep within the reed bed and were difficult to photograph but I did manage a couple of record shots.

Bearded Tit

Bearded Tit

There was still no sign of our target species the White-fronted Geese but by this time we were a lot less concerned. We will catch up with the geese another day.

In the afternoon we decided to head back into Sussex and visit Pagham North Wall. Recent changes to the drainage there have resulted in a lower water level and a lot more mud which should start to attract more waders.

It is probably also the reason why we found four Water Rail out on the mud feeding around the edges of the reed beds. They are not the most sociable of birds and they spent a lot of their time squealing at and fighting each other. Great to watch but it's just a shame they were not a bit closer.

The Chase

The Fight

A Victor

Much more enjoyable birding today with a lot of new bird behaviour observed. Lets hope the weather holds and we can have a repeat tomorrow.

A Break in the Clouds

Despite the cold and overcast weather of late, the birding has been good with many species forced out into the open in search of food. Photo opportunities under the grey skies have been limited, but they still exist. The following two shots are hand held at 1/60sec using a 700mm lens combination. It works to a certain extent although the Wood Lark is still showing some head movement.

Unfortunately this technique will not work with the likes of Goldcrest, Firecrest or any other of the highly mobile small birds which is a pity as they have been much more visible during the cold spell.

Mistle Thrush on Goring Green

Wood Lark on Goring Green

Today the sun came out and we rushed off to capture all the pictures we had missed over the past couple of weeks. Except it didn't happen. With the sunshine and warmer weather the birds had reverted to more normal behaviour and were less easy to find and to approach.

Our first stop of the day was to photograph Goldcrests and Firecrests at Swanbourne Lake Arundel. These had been foraging on the ground within six foot of us on previous days but today they were back in the treetops. An hour and a half of observing them left me with about thirty blurred pictures. You could see that both birds were present but they were not even worth keeping as record shots.

Our next targets were at various locations around Hayling Island. We had great hopes of relocating a Short-eared Owl that we had seen perched the day before and of finding Divers in the harbour. I came away without a single picture and despite the sunshine the day was starting to look a little dull.

A quick review of our plans and we decided to head off to the Long Pool at Pagham Harbour to have another look at the Bearded Tits. It is a real challenge to photograph them.The reeds are forever moving even in a gentle breeze and the birds rarely appear in the open. However, there is always the chance of an exceptional picture and that makes the challenge interesting. Sadly though, good shots but nothing outstanding today.

Such a soft and gentle looking female

And a real bruiser of a partner.

Blue colouration more evident in this light

Ring visible but not readable

There are probably five birds present and at least two of these are ringed. The objective now must be to get a close up of the rings and find out where they came from.

Bearded Tits

I went down to Pagham Harbour today where Bearded Tits had been reported on the Long Pool. I had seen Bearded Tits before but without managing to get a picture and was keen to plug the gap in my collection.

Arriving at the Visitors centre I found a few finches and the more common tits around the feeders but there was also a nice Kestrel close by. This seems to be coming a regular for my fist bird of the day. Just a pity that they always seem to have their back to the sun.

Kestrel - Perhaps thinking he can have a chunk of me for lunch

 A couple of quick snaps and I headed off to find the Bearded Tits. Alongside Waxwings they are one of the most photogenic birds in the UK but they are also difficult to find. Fortunately another birder pointed me in the right direction.

 
I manage a few good record shots but the show stopper will have to wait for another day.

I would like to be able to claim some special skill in obtaining these pictures, however, the truth is that with the light levels changing rapidly and the reeds blowing all over the place I just fired off about a hundred and twenty shots in the ten minutes they were visible and then picked out the four or five that were not blurred.

A bit soft but probably my favorite shot

It was particularly difficult to get a picture of the female which appeared to have much more rapid movement and feeding habits.

Female Bearded Tit

The Collins guide refers to them as Bearded Reedlings as opposed to tits and states that are most closely related to the larks.

 

Whatever you want to call them they are a nice bird to find and photograph.