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.

Smew, Bittern, and Marsh Harrier

This looked like a good start to the day. Two drake Smew, five redheads, and a Bittern sitting in the reeds behind them.

Taken from the ARC hide Dungeness

It being a crisp, bright, and sunlit winters day we had driven down to Dungeness in the hope of just such pictures. If only I could have gotten a bit closer, but there was a lot of water between them and me and they had no intention of coming over to give me better views.

Drake Smew - a long way off

Showing off to the ladies

And "too distant for a good picture" turned out to be the theme for the day.

Bittern flying - too distant

Marsh Harrier flying - too distant

Another Marsh Harrier - too distant

Avocet - too distant (at Rye Harbour)

We had a good day and saw a lot of birds including the scarce Smew. In fact this was my first sight of a Drake Smew in the wild. Overall though, it was disappointing to have returned home without a couple of really good pictures. Sometimes it just doesn't happen for you.

Seven Life Ticks in a Day

Seven life ticks in a day. That's good even for someone that has only been birding for a year.

Had a great day out with Dave yesterday. We went down to Dungeness arriving early and having the ARC hide to ourselves for a couple of hours. Birds were distant so photography was not so good but we still managed to get some good record shots.  We had at least ten sightings of Marsh Harriers and at one point there were four in the air at the same time.

Marsh Harrier

We also had distant views of two bittern and a Great White Egret.

Bittern - hiding in the reeds as usual but at least still visible

Great White Egret

I did manage to get some closer pictures of the GWE but in the bright sunlight they were burnt out and I could not rescue them.

My seven life ticks for the day were - Marsh Harrier, Great White Egret, Ruff, Cetti's Warbler, Goldeneye, Barnacle Goose, and Tree Sparrow. I had seen the first four previously but not to my satisfaction for positive identification. They had either been too distant or in the case of the Cetti's disappeared into the reeds too quickly leaving me with a fleeting glimpse of a rear end.

The Cetti's in particular was good to see as this had always been one of my target birds. Unfortunately I could not get an angle for a picture and whilst I felt like elbowing Dave out of the way I did manage to keep control. So, half a success on this one, but it's good to have something left for another day - I think.

The Tree Sparrows at Boulderwall Farm were the real surprise of the day. I had not realised how colourful they looked compared to the more common House Sparrow.

Tree Sparrow

 I would like to go back and have another go at photographing these.

Our next stop was at Scotney Pit. The number of birds spread out over the water and on the grass banks was truly stunning. We spent a pleasant hour birding from the comfort of the car but could not find any rarities. Dave did, however, spot a Ruff, and three Redshanks together and I managed to get a distant shot of the Ruff confirming my life tick.

Scotney also has a resident flock of Barnacle Geese and these flew in just before we left. There were probably thirty plus in the flock but other than for a record shot they did not offer photographic opportunities.

On the way home we called in at Princess Park in Eastbourne to give Dave a chance to see the Bonaparte's Gull that had been reported there earlier in the day. Unfortunately we dipped out on that one but I have included another picture of it, that I had taken earlier in the week, so Dave does not feel too disappointed at missing it!

Bonaparte's Gull

A great days birding and lots of pictures to work through when I got home.