Little Owl

My blogs seems to have been mostly about Owls of late but then who could resist the opportunity to photograph this pair of Little Owls? Dave certainly couldn't and you will see an almost identical set of pictures on his blog. All except for the Firecrest that is and I will get on to that later.

This now looks like a possible nesting pair so forgive me but I am not going to publish any details of their whereabouts.


Later we went to Chichester Gravel Pits to look for the Red-crested Pochard. They were there, on Ivy Lake, but staying well hidden under overhanging willows on the far side of the lake. My thanks to Sarah for putting us onto them, I don't think that we would have found them without her assistance.

With a White-fronted Goose on East Lake, the area became a bit like a birding reunion, with a lot of old faces and a newly shorn Bart Ives (not looking quite so Organic now) turning up to view the birds.

White-fronted Goose

The Great Crested Grebes seem to have suddenly developed their breeding plumage. This is a bird that we tend to ignore for most of the year and then, with a chance of seeing a Weed Dance, they become the centre of attention for a short period. These two looked as though they would kick off but then seemed to loose interest and drifted away.

Great Crested Grebes

Great Crested Grebes

We then decided to head over to Arundel and visit the Wetland Centre. I still haven't managed to get a decent picture of a Firecrest and this is one of the most reliable places for seeing them. There was a great looking bird feeding around some of the brambles with probably half a dozen or more photographers trying to get a picture of it. 

Checking later, Trevor Guy, who we met there, and Dave seemed to have nailed it as probably did everyone else apart from me. Checking the back of the camera showed a lot of empty perches and blurred shots. The best I could manage was this head shot below. Better than nothing but not really the picture I was after.

Firecrest

I suppose I shouldn't be too despondent, at least it's the head, I usually just get the rear end as it flies out of the picture.


One last shot. This is the Ashdown Forest Great Grey Shrike that I saw a couple of days ago. It was about a hundred metres west of the Long car park but very mobile. There were a lot of people and dogs walking in the area and it was avoiding these. You could probably get it down to about forty metres but any closer and it would fly.

If you want to see pictures of a much more obliging bird have a look at my November 2013 blog.

Ashdown Forest Great Grey Shrike

Another great day for bird photography but there was a definite heat haze building this afternoon despite the chill in the air. That window of optimum lighting and clear air is all to brief.

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.

Cetti's Warbler

Out birding with Dave again today and having the usual problem of how to make our blogs look a little different. Fortunately I can start off with a couple of pictures of Spoonbills taken at Snowhill Creek on Sunday. If only I could have trimmed the reeds that were blocking my view.

Spoonbills - with one not sleeping!  Pity about the reeds

Smart looking bird

Today started off in the dark and rain at Widewater looking for the Goosander. It had taken us just under an hour to do the five miles from Worthing and it was a complete waste of time. No Goosander, no birds on the sea, just the usual two pairs of Mergansers, a few dabchicks, and a Shellduck. To make it worse all my pictures of the mergansers were rubbish.

Next stop was Chichester Gravel Pits to have another look for the Dusky Warbler. We drew a blank on that one but there was a particularly showy Cetti's Warbler around. It was pure luck on where you were standing and where he emerged and I could not get a clear shot out in the open but there were a couple of reasonable record shots. Certainly a lot better than the usual back end that you get as it disappears into the bush.

Cetti's Warbler

Not bad for 1/60 Sec

We also searched for the female Red-crested Pochard without any luck. We were even told where it was by Owen Mitchell but of course by the time we got there it had moved on. Fortunately we then relocated it on the far side of Triangle lake and then watched as it paddled over to give us good views.

Red-crested Pochard

There were quite a few small birds around the lakes although the numbers of Coots and wildfowl still seems low. Winter does not really seem to have arrived yet, at least not as far as the birds are concerned. On the other hand some of the Great-crested Grebes seem to be moving into summer Plumage.

Great-crested Grebe

We ended up at the North Wall but there was very little showing. The usual Mallard, Teal, Widgeon, Canada Geese, and Curlews with flocks of Lapwings wheeling overhead but nothing unusual. The water was very high in the Breech Pool and the only Godwits that we could see were half a dozen in the flooded fields at the back of the pool. The wind was cold and getting stronger so we did not hang around for too long.

Dusky Warbler

Dusky Warbler, but I have to point out straight away that this is not my picture. Dave had talked me into going to Chichester Gravel pits to look for the Dusky Warbler that had been reported there. I was not too keen. From past experience I knew how hard it can be to nail these small fast moving warblers. They like to stay in cover, the lighting was going to be poor, and I also have difficulty in picking up their calls. There is nothing worse than getting fleeting glimpses of a bird, thinking that it is the one you are looking for, but ending up walking away without being one hundred percent confident.

It looked as though it would go that way today. I had a four or five sightings of the bird moving through the bushes but all added together they probably came to no more than ten to fifteen seconds and it was moving all the time. I could see a white stripe over its eye but that alone was not enough to confirm the sighting. There were experts there that were confident that the call was that of a Dusky but again that is not really satisfactory.

Fortunately Dave managed to get a few shots of it. He was the only photographer there that did, but it was enough for all of us to go home confident that we had seen a Dusky Warbler. It's just a pity that they weren't my pictures. See Dave's Blog for more images.

Dusky Warbler - Dave Potter

I have had a few good days birding already this year but with mostly dull overcast days I don't have many pictures to show for it.  We were out New Years day and down at Gosport to see Waldo the Ring-billed Gull. He is now in his thirteenth winter on the boating lake in Walpole Park. We logged another forty or so birds that day but with poor lighting and no picture opportunities we headed for home early.

Waldo - Ring-billed Gull

Yesterday was going to be my big birding day and a chance to get a few year ticks under my belt. It started well when I left home just before eight and ended prematurely a few minutes later when I pulled up with a rear offside puncture. By the time I had the wheel changed, had cleaned up, and then visited the garage for a new tyre, it was about eleven o'clock.

I moped around the house for an hour before deciding that I really needed to go out. I was glad I did. I headed over to Horse Eye Level where I managed to pick up five Short-eared Owls, Richard's Pipit, Hen Harrier, and Marsh Harrier. Picture opportunities were again limited by the light with the Short-eared Owl below, just about making the grade for the blog.

Short-eared Owl

On the way home I stopped off at Jevington for the Rough-legged Buzzard and at Butchers Hole car park in Friston Forest for the Bramblings. The Chaffinch Flock here was huge and I have never seen so many Brambling in one place. I could have watched them for hours if it had not been for one of those nice dog walkers with six dogs running loose that scattered the lot.

So a good start to the year even if I don't have many pictures to show for it.