Wryneck

I finally managed to catch up with the Church Norton Wryneck, although it was not very obliging and stayed deep in cover for most of the time that I watched it. I had missed them on the spring migration so this was a welcome year tick for me.

I had hoped for a better picture but after about five minutes the bird dropped into the long grass to feed and had not reappeared when I left an hour later

Wryneck

There seems to have been a shortage of small birds around the hide and cemetery areas at Church Norton of late but today restored my faith in the area with multiple sightings of Redstarts and Spotted Flycatchers and also this Green Woodpecker feeding in the field behind the hide.

Green Woodpecker

Green Woodpecker

The Spotted Flycatchers and Redstarts all seemed to favour the barbed wire and fencing for perching up. It's probably convenient for them but it tends to spoil the pictures.

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Redstart

I had a look at the North Wall but with the recent heavy rain the Breech Pool was again overfull and there were no waders there. I caught glimpses of a single Spotted Flycatcher and a Wheatear but could not get pictures of either. Fortunately the Swallows were obliging even if they were favouring the barbed wire again.

Swallow

The following pictures were taken in a brief very wet stopover in Norfolk earlier in the week. The trip was more memorable for the birds I missed than for those I saw. In particular I had Booted Warbler, Icterine Warbler and Wryneck reported on Gramborough Hill just one mile from where I was staying.

Gramborough Hill - Not a big area to search for three rarities

It was getting dark and raining heavily when we arrived but I was up early and on site before 0600 the next morning. Unfortunately the rain had cleared in the night and the birds had flown. The best I managed was this distant Garden Warbler.

Garden Warbler

Other pictures taken included this Little Stint enjoying the rain, a couple of Pied Flycatchers and a few of the regulars.

Little Stint

Meadow Pipit

Pied Flycatcher

Ruff

It had been a disappointing week but one good bird like the Wryneck makes all the difference. Bring on the rest of the migration

Terek Sandpiper

This is just a quick blog to record the Terek Sandpiper at Church Norton today. I was otherwise engaged for most of the day so we did not get down there until about four o'clock.  This was just after high tide and the bird had been missing for some time. It was a disappointment but it seemed to be worth waiting a while to see if it would come back as the tide dropped. Sure enough about four thirty we got our first views of it, It was distant  and the pictures were poor but it was a life tick for me so I came away happy.

Terek Sandpiper

Finding plenty of food

Size comparison with Black-headed Gull

and Oystercatcher

Terek Sandpiper

Distant record shots but better than nothing. A great bird to see, I am glad we went.

Hudsonian Whimbrel

I am not keen on Twitches but when a Mega turns up in your patch you don't really want to miss out on it. So today I picked up Dave and we headed off to Pagham Harbour in the hope of seeing the reported Hudsonian Whimbrel before the big crowds started to turn up.

We decided not to risk the Church Norton car park and instead parked up near the visitors centre and walked down the side of the harbour to the hide. You might get in the car park but if the crowds turned up you wouldn't get out.

You always have your doubts when something like this is reported but it was the genuine article and all credit to George Kinnard who found and identified it.

Apologies for my pictures, the bird was a bit distant when we got there and gradually moved further away as the tide came in.

Hudsonian Whimbrel

Paler head with more distinctive marking

The head is paler than the Eurasian Whimbrel with stronger contrast between the almost white  supercillium and the very dark head and eye stripes.

Underwing appears to be a light brown with distinct barring. The Eurasian would be a white base colour.

No white cigar shape on the back

All brown back

The key identifiers are the lack of a white rump or cigar shaped white mark on the  Hudsonian Whimbrel's back. Slight variations in size and colour are harder to spot unless it is standing alongside an Eurasian bird.


There was not much else about but on the way back to the visitors centre we stopped to photograph a pair of Great Crested Grebes that were out on the Long Pool with their two young. In the early days the chicks sit nestled on the mothers back under the protection of her feathers whilst the male collects food and feeds them.

Father brings food

Safe under their mothers protection

A great afternoons birding. The Twitch wasn't too big and it was nice to meet up with a few old faces. It would be great to go back and get some better pictures but I think that it will be a few days before it quietens down a bit.

Ruff

A mixed bag of birds, locations and weather today. We started out in overcast conditions with a visit to Cissbury Ring and a stakeout on the Yew tree that Ring Ouzels stop over in
each year. The climb up the hill probably did us good and we had a pleasant hour or so looking at the view but there was no sign of the Ring Ouzels or of any other birds apart from a few crows.

Next stop was Pagham North Wall to see if I could improve on my Curlew Sandpiper pictures. No luck again as they had moved further down the creek on the rising tide but there was a Ruff on the Breech Pool and the usual collection of Black-tailed Godwits along with a couple of Spotted Redshanks and a few Snipe that were showing well.

Ruff in amongst the Godwits

on alert

and feeding

The Snipe were more active than usual, feeding, running around, aggressive behaviour, and tail fanning. Perhaps practising courtship techniques for next year!

Snipe

Snipe

With the weather improving we decided to move on to Church Norton to have another look for the Pied Flycatcher. It had been seen just before we arrived but as with the previous day it had gone into hiding when I arrived. There were even more Spotted Flycatchers about today. It was difficult to do an accurate count but probably ten or more just in the area outside of the church grounds.

So yet more pictures of Spotties:-

Spotted Flycatcher

Likes butterflies as well as Flies

So we dipped out on our three targets for the day but we still had a good days birding and enjoyed the Autumn sunshine.

Spotted Flycatchers

The title should really have said Pied Flycatcher. I spent yet another session chasing around after a reported sighting of a Pied Flycatcher without getting even a glimpse of it and, in the end, not even being sure that it was ever there. The consolation, there were four or five Spotted Flycatchers and they were showing well.

The location was Church Norton and today for a change the birds were really showing well. There were the Spotties, Blackcap, Wheatear, Redstart, Kestrel, Wood Warbler which I did not manage to see, various Finches, Hirundines, and even a Red-legged Partridge in the field next to the Church. The downside, the lighting was really poor. Most of my pictures were at ISO800, f8, and around 1/80 sec, so most were failures. But, as always, there are a couple of reasonable shots amongst them.

Spotted Flycatcher

The Spotties seem to come down out of the tree tops towards the end of the day and use lower perches, in this case the gravestones, for their feeding forays. I assume they are just following the food.

Spotted Flycatcher and prey

Always interested to see what the photographers are doing

There were not many other birds in range of a photograph in the low light levels but this Wheatear did come down into the church yard and seemed to be copying the Spotted Flycatchers feeding techniques.

Wheatear.

Perhaps I should give up on the Pied Flycatcher for this year and head off to Wales next spring to get a male in full breeding plumage.