Greenshank and Green Sandpiper

 

A trip along the coast to Pagham Harbour and Medmerry delivered some good birds. Pride of place goes to the Greenshank, always the most elegant of birds. This one on the Stilt Pool.

There were also Avocets on the pool and a Black Redstart on the rocks at the breech, neither of which were within camera range. Fortunately there were also three Black Redstarts by the windmill on the eastern side of the breech. Also, just inside the breech, a Purple Sandpiper on the shore with a flock of Ringed Plover . Good scope views but again too far away for a picture.

Moving round to Selsey the Green Sandpiper was showing well in the roadside pool close to the Ferry Pool......

......with a Spotted Redshank in the Ferry Channel.

Not many smaller birds around, just brief sightings of a couple of Dartford Warblers and a Cetti's heard but not seen. The usual birds around the feeders at the RSPB visitors Centre and another Long-tailed Tit posing for its picture to be taken.

Red Kite

 

It has been a while since I last wrote a blog. My new Years resolution was to be all around getting out more, taking more pictures, and writing more blogs. Then the third lockdown came along and my resolution was blown apart. I couldn't even find any interesting insects in the garden to write about.

I usually take my daily exercise close to home but I have manged a few short trips into the countryside, carrying the camera to record obliging birds and a sandwich which I always eat on the move so it doesn't count as a picnic!

It has resulted in a slow start to the birding year but there have been a few good opportunities. Probably the best being this perched up Red Kite. I first saw it at a distance and took a couple of record shots then gradually moved closer taking pictures as I went, all the time expecting it to take flight.

Red Kite

There wasn't much cover around but then with raptors and Owls I have usually found it best to stay out in the open rather than try to creep up on them. You just have to take a zig-zag approach and take your time, stopping regularly and pretending to be a sheep. It watched me closely but did not seem concerned. I took around fifty shots as I approached. These last two being at around twenty metres where I was stopped by a barbed wire fence.

I was then backing off slowly, happily surfing the shots on the back of the camera, when the kite had the last laugh by making a low pass over my head whilst I was looking the wrong way. Probably just it's way of warning me off its territory and of making it clear who was in control.

Red Kite

A walk around Shoreham Fort and Harbour gave me this female Black Redstart in the boatyard but not sightings of the Purple Sandpipers that frequent the pier or of the Dartford Warbler that has been seen along the beach walk.

Black Redstart

A couple of weeks before Christmas I had been over to Marsh Farm at Sidlesham to look for the Richards Pipit. I did see it and I did get a picture but the bird was distant and there were frequent bursts of torrential rain,  so the pictures were poor.

Richard's Pipit

I went back in early January with the idea of getting a better picture and of adding it to the new year bird list but I was a day too late. It was seen the day before I went but has not been reported since. Still a walk over from Pagham and around the farm and Sidlesham area, gave a substantial boost to my new year list.

It is strange to recall that ten years ago Cattle Egrets were rare birds and I would travel miles in an attempt to see one. Now they are a common bird on the Selsey peninsular. This one amongst twenty plus feeding in one of the Marsh Farm fields.

Cattle Egret

Long-tailed Tit

Song Thrush

Stonechat

Also, whilst passing through Arundel I decided to stop off for a walk around Swanbourne Lake to look for the Mandarin Ducks. It was probably the riskiest walk I have taken all year. Arundel was packed with cars and people and there were groups feeding the ducks, walking and picnicking all around the lake. Fortunately the Mandarins prefer the more secluded areas.

There is no doubt, that the countryside and a few hours out (socially distanced) birding, can make all the difference during these difficult times.

Black Redstart

Just a few pictures from earlier in the week. Best picture opportunity was the Black Redstart at Shoreham Fort. It has been around for a few weeks now but it's such a good looking bird that we always drop in for another look when passing. 

Black Redstart

It is not easy to get a good picture but the results are well worth the effort. I am sure that I will be going back for another go.


A walk out on Chantry Hill gave us Ravens, Buzzards, Grey and Red-legged Partridges, Fieldfares, lots of small birds including Mipits, Skylarks and 30 to 40 Yellowhammers but no sign of the usual Corn Buntings. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the Partridges with just one week to go before the close of the shooting season.

Yellowhammer

At Waltham Sewage Works a Grey Wagtail, probably a dozen or more Chiffchaffs, and a Goldcrest on the access road.

Chiffchaff

Goldcrest

A Rock Pipit at Seaford Head but no Kittiwakes and another visit to the Newhaven Hume's Warbler but still no picture.

Rock Pipit

Perhaps best of all my garden birding has picked up. I don't get a lot of variety but this morning I had a Blackcap on the feeders and later I was able to photograph it, tucking into a pear that I had put out. Whilst I was trying to photograph that a Redwing dropped in and finished off the last of the holly berries.

Blackcap

Redwing

It was very misty in the garden this morning but there was just enough light to be able to get the pictures.

A New Year List

January always seems a bit weird. The start of a new year and Blackbirds, Starlings and all those birds you have paid little attention to during the year, suddenly become important again, as you try to get the year list off to a good start. Bird races are not for me but I do expect to get above the hundred before the month is out. A modest target perhaps but then my real objective is to get some decent photographs. Lighting is the key to success and cold January and February days, bright but with high thin cloud are the best. Unfortunately there aren't many of them and the useful hours in those days are limited.

The two shots below, of the Black Redstart at Shoreham Fort, show the difference lighting can make. The same bird on successive days and it looks very different.

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

January is also the time for me to make the annual trip to Newhaven West Beach to see the Fulmars as they start to take ownership of their nesting holes.

Fulmar

Actually the trip to Newhaven this year was mainly to see the Hume's Leaf Warbler. I did see it but I didn't manage to get a photograph. My second Hume's Warbler and the second time I have failed to get a picture, so my key list of seen but not photographed stays at twelve.

Truth be told I had to rely on Dave and others for the identification. I cannot pick up the call and with the brief views I had it could easily have been a Yellow Browed Warbler I was looking at.

A picture of a Goldcrest in the same area of scrub was no consolation.

Goldcrest

We have had large numbers of Gannets along the Sussex coast over the past couple of weeks, with the birds close in and giving good views of plunge diving. The lighting was appalling but they were at least good to watch.

I also failed to get a photograph of the plunge diving but I can't blame the lighting for that. It was something to do with my inability to press the shutter release at the right time.

We also had a day down at Pagham Harbour. There were a lot of birds there and I added a few to the year list but they were a long way off and there was no chance of a decent photograph. It was also very cold so we retired to the Wetland Centre at Arundel.

It's always good for a few pictures and as we drove there Dave predicted Water Rail, Bullfinch, Kingfisher, and Snipe. He was spot on, we saw all four and I also picked up on a Chiffchaff. Good practice for if I go back for another go at the Hume's.

Water Rail

Water Rail

Water Rail

Water Rail

Female Bullfinch

Kingfisher

Snipe

Chiffchaff

Not a bad start to the New Year. It's good to be out in the countryside again and even better to be getting a few photographs.

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.

Smew

With nothing much happening locally we decided on a trip along the coast to Dungeness. It offered a couple of year ticks and there was always the chance of something unusual turning up.

We stopped off at the Camber Ponds and Scotney Pits on the way but it was clear that the majority of ducks and geese had moved on. There were a few birds about but we could not find anything unusual.

At Dungeness we called in at the RSPB Visitors Centre to see what was about. Three birds looked interesting, a Ruff on Burrows, Black Redstarts at the lighthouse gardens, and best of all a Drake Smew on the New Excavations.

Drake Smew is a real prize. It is a bird that usually keeps its distance. I have a few good pictures of them but all taken of the captive birds at the Arundel Wetland Centre. It would be good to throw them away and put some real pictures in their place.

We had a quick look for the roosting Long-eared Owl but it wasn't showing out in the open so we didn't stop. A quick search from Makepeace gave us the Ruff. It was too far away for a picture but still a good bird to see. There haven't been many waders about this year.

On to Christmas Dell hide and the Smew was visible out in the middle of the pool. A few minutes of silent pleading from us  and it turned and headed towards the hide. I couldn't believe our luck. It wasn't perfect, I could have done with the light coming from behind us, but these would be better shots than I had before.

Smew

Unfortunately he didn't stay in front of the hide for long. He ended up being pursued across the pond by an amorous redhead.

They spent a few minutes feeding together but her thought were clearly on other things. She then went into display mode giving him every encouragement - but he just wasn't interested.

We waited, hoping that they would come back towards the hide but they stayed distant and eventually something spooked him and he flew to the far side of the pool. I would have liked longer photographing him but I can't really complain.



A walk round the rest of the reserve gave us sight of a couple of Bearded Tits but we were keen to get down to the lighthouse to look for the Black Redstarts. They were easy enough to find, sitting out on the lighthouse garden wall. We counted four, possibly five, but they were all staying inside the garden wall or up on the roof. Easy to watch but just that bit too distant for a good shot.

There were reports of Wheatears on the beach but we couldn't find them and also of juvenile Iceland and Caspian Gulls on the patch. We didn't even try for these. I have enough trouble identifying them, when they are on the ground in front of me. My chances of picking them out in the swirl of birds above the patch were next to zero.

The journey home was also a bit disappointing. Still nothing on Scotney or the Camber ponds and a search of the Pett levels and a couple of brief sea watches from Camber and Pett failed to add any excitement to the day.

Overall though a good day and a couple of reasonable pictures of the Smew to remember it by.

Addition

Wednesday morning and my first Wheatear of the year, in the fields behind Goring Gap. My thanks to Nick Bond for the tweet. Rather distant but I didn't want to trample the farmers crop.