Red-necked Phalarope

Monday, we spent nearly five hours sitting in a hide at Titchfield Haven, waiting for a Semipalmated Sandpiper to turn up - it didn't. Which is probably just as well, as I am not sure that I would be able to tell it from Little Stint even at close range.

The drive home after missing a bird is always a bit depressing but we didn't let it get us down. This morning we were up early and over to Pagham North Wall hoping to find something unusual - we didn't and to make matters worse there were no reports of any good birds in the area. Running out of ideas we decided to go over to Thorney Island to have a look for the Red-necked Phalarope and I am pleased to say this time we were in luck.

The Phalarope has been there for  a few days now but has been distant for a lot of that time. Today it was just out of photographic range for most of the time but did make a couple of short forays into closer waters. It was then a case of trying to get a clear shot through or over the reeds and hoping that the light was reasonable.

We got a few record shots but it could have been better. If you are going to have a look at it, the late afternoon sun will give you the best lighting. For us, today, it was just too hot to stand around for a few hours waiting for things to improve.

To find the bird, park up at the triangle at (SU757049), cross the road and follow the footpath west to the beach. Turn left (south) and follow the seawall footpath for about 200 metres to the Little Deep (SU752048)

On Sunday we walked from Reculver out past Cold Harbour Lagoon. A short stop for pictures gave me the birds below.

Greenshank

Knot

Bar-tailed Godwit

Spotted Redshank

Wheatear

and this looks like another Little Stint - white braces on its back clearer in other shots

A couple of shots from Titchfield, taken whilst we were waiting for the Semipalmated Sandpiper that didn't show.

Ruff

Common Snipe

And two from last week at Pagham North Wall

Curlew Sandpiper and six Dunlin

Low flying Buzzard

The hot weather seems to have caused the autumn migration to stall. Am I alone in looking forward to the cooler and more productive days to come.

Pied Flycatcher

A three day stay down in Canterbury gave me the chance to visit a few of the birding sites around the Kent area. It's always worth a stop at Scotney Pits on the way down to scan the geese and wildfowl flocks and this time I found the Barnacle Goose flock close enough to photograph. Although I did have to look hard to find one that looked a pure bred Barnacle. Most seem to be Barnacle/Emperor hybrids.

Barnacle Goose

Next stop was Dungeness and for once it did not deliver. All I had there were distant views of all the usual birds with the highlight being a female Red-crested Pochard. A disappointment as Dungeness usually manages to turn up something out of the ordinary. Leaving early afternoon, with the weather starting to cloud over and with only the pictures of the Barnacles in the bag, I was in two minds over giving up for the day. Fortunately I decided to take a detour via Dover and stopped off in Samphire Hoe.

For anyone that does not know about the Hoe, it is a platform created at the base of the cliffs to the west of Dover using the spoils from the digging of the Channel Tunnel. It covers about thirty hectares and is accessed by a tunnel through the cliffs from the east bound carriage way, when leaving Dover on the A20. Observers have recorded 230 species of plants, 30 species of butterfly, 150 species of moth, and 213 species of birds there. It's well worth a visit if you are down that way. It has easy access and the wardens are always helpful with any sightings they have made.

That was the case again this time and within a couple of minutes of arriving I had locations for a Pied Flycatcher, Redstarts, and Black Redstarts. It wasn't going to be easy in the rapidly fading light. Shutter speeds were around a 1/60 of a second at ISO400, and holding a 700mm lens combination steady at that speed is not easy. Still I got some shots and although they are a little soft I was quite pleased with them. Fortunately you do not have to look at all the ones that failed.

Pied Flycatcher

Redstart

The Redstart was very obliging and gave close views. The Pied Flycatcher was a bit harder and I only ended up with the one decent picture. By then the rain had set in and there was no point in looking for the Black Redstarts.

Needless to say I was back down there at 0700 the next morning when the site opened. The light was superb, bright but with a thin cloud cover, giving a very diffuse but clear light. Pictures were going to be really good and would have been if the birds were still there. The Redstarts had disappeared completely, the Pied Flycatcher was still there but it was now in a wooded gulley half way up the cliffs and beyond the range of the camera. I was gutted, I waited at the bottom for a couple of hours but there was no sign of it coming down.

There was some consolation in the Black Redstarts. I had been warned that they were hard to photograph. They did not allow close approach and a small black bird hunting over black seaweed covered rocks was not going to be easy. I did try concealing myself in amongst the rocks and waiting for them to come to me but they obviously new that I was there and avoided the area. On top of that it was uncomfortable and you do get some strange looks from passers bye, when they notice you lurking with a paparazzi style camera, apparently taking pictures of bits of seaweed.

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

The pictures don't really do the bird justice. Here's one taken a couple of years ago under better conditions.

Black Redstart taken at Climping Beach Sussex - October 2012

I had another look for the Pied Flycatcher but it was nowhere to be seen. There were a couple of Ravens and a Peregrine squabbling around the cliff tops but they were too far away for a picture but I did managed a few other shots around the site.

Wheatear

Whitethroat

and there was an unusual visitor to one of the feeders. It makes a change from the usual tree rats.

Brown Rat

The route home was along the north coast of Kent with the main stop being at Oare Marshes There were thousands of birds there with some of the most spectacular being the Starlings. It's not just their synchronised flying that is the attraction, this time of year they have spectacular iridescent colours that make them look more like a tropical bird.

Starling

Apart from the wildfowl the majority of the other birds were Lapwings and Golden Plover but there were also Ruff and Curlew Sandpiper amongst them.

Curlew Sandpiper and Ruff

Ruff

Golden Plover with Starlings and what looks like another Ruff with its head in the water.

You can get close to the birds at Oare but the better picture opportunities are in the afternoon when the sun is over your shoulder. There is a path round behind the birds if you are there in the morning but you are further away from them.

Medmerry Black-winged Stilt

I was in two minds about going out today. The weather did not look so good and the birding has been a bit slow of late.The decider was a pair of Black-winged Stilts still being reported at Medmerry. I had seen a pair down at Dungeness a few weeks ago but these were Sussex birds and so a patch tick.

I started the day off at Pagham Harbour Visitors Centre with another two hours wasted trying to get a picture of the resident Cuckoo. Again I had plenty of views but I just could not get it in the viewfinder either perched up or flying - very frustrating. The consolation was a Wood Sandpiper on the back of the Ferry Pool. I managed a couple of record shots but it was too far away for a decent picture. Fortunately a couple of friendly birders let me have a look through their telescope and I was able to see the diagnostic features.

No pictures of the Cuckoo or Wood Sandpiper so you will have to make do with a Chaffinch

The Black-winged Stilts had been reported on the scrape at the end of the footpath on the Earnley side of Medmerry. It's a long walk in, particularly if the birds have flown when you get there, but if you don't look you don't get to see so walk it was. I am glad I went. The Stilts were still there as were some other interesting birds although they were all a bit distant.

Black-winged Stilts

Given that the environment is only about a year old the bird population is building up nicely. I just hope these are new birds and not just ones that have been attracted away from Pagham Harbour. There were a number of Avocets there and they appeared to be sitting on nests. I only saw one younster but that was being well cared for by the parent who was seeing off any Gulls or Crows that came close.

Avocet

The Avocets are very protective parents and even the Stilts were expected to keep their distance.

Not really a threat but see it off anyway

There was also a Curlew Sandpiper putting in an occasional appearance. Again very distant but this time the record shot is just about acceptable. You can see the diagnostic features, long black legs, pale stripe over the eye, slightly downcurved bill. The white underside is gradually disappearing as the bird moults into its red summer plumage

Curlew Sandpiper

I had a couple of hours left and a choice of things to do. I could head off to Whiteways and look for the Turtle Dove or have a look around Church Norton for a Flycatcher or other migrants. I chose Church Norton which was probably the wrong decision as the Turtle Dove was found at Whiteways.

Nothing was found by me at Church Norton apart from the rather odd behaviour of a cock pheasant. He was stood on one of the old gravestones as I walked through the church yard and he was still there when I came back half an hour later. I went over to investigate and he was rather reluctant to move away, letting me get within five or six feet before he moved off. There was no name on the gravestone, it had worn away with time, but I did wonder if he had found the remains of an old game keeper or poacher and had been dancing on their grave.

Pheasant on gravestone

I also took a couple more pictures of butterflies when I was out on Monday. Not enough for a blog but they are worth adding here.

Common Blue

The Wall Brown has to be one of the hardest to photograph. I am used to chasing Brimstones or Orange Tips over long distances but at least they stay at a reasonable height. The Wall likes baked hard bare mud where it waits until I get down alongside it laying on my belly when it then takes off and lands ten feet away. This is a game that we pursued over a couple of hours in the hot sun on Monday afternoon. I got my record shots but it was hard work and I am going to have to do it all over again to try to improve on the ones that I got.

Wall Brown

Wall Brown closed wing shot.

Birding in Kent

A recent trip to stay for a few days in Canterbury gave the opportunity to try birding in some different areas. However, I wasn't very adventurous and ended up visiting a lot of places that I am already familiar with. Cliffe Pools twice, to see the Lesser Yellowlegs which I missed by about ten minutes on both occasions. Stodmarsh and Grove Ferry, where I hardly saw a bird all day, although I did have a fly by from a Marsh Harrier, so close that I had no chance of getting a picture. Folkstone and Dover Cliffs, looking for Ring Ouzels, which was a total waste of time despite all the reported sightings.

In the end it all came down to Dungeness, five Great White Egrets, a Spoonbill, and a small supporting cast. Even here there were some missed opportunities, A Pectoral Sandpiper that kept relocating every time I got near it and a Rare Bird Alert that reported Ring Ouzels within fifty metres of where I was standing but which were gone by the time I got there.

It all sounds a bit depressing but actually I had a great time wandering around the sites. I am just trying to convince the wife that I need to do this more often.

So, pictures taken at a rather drab and over cast Dungeness.

Spoonbill

Little Egret with fish

Great White Egret

Taking to the air - Five to six foot wingspan

Two of the five Great White Egrets present

Bar-tailed Godwit and Curlew Sandpiper

Greenshanks

 and one picture taken at Grove Ferry

Snipe hiding in amongst the Ducks

The most exiting spectacle of the day was a feeding frenzy of about thirty Cormorants on a shoal of fish, with an even larger flock of gulls trying to poach fish out of the Cormorants mouths. I must read up on how to use the video mode on the camera.

Long-billed Dowitcher and other Waders

Sunday morning and I was awake just after 4am. No point staying in bed and I needed a good days birding with real birds instead of butterflies. By 6am I was standing on Butts Lagoon, Pennington Marshes. First in the car park and first on the lagoon. Great except the bird that I had come to see, a Long-billed Dowitcher was nowhere to be seen.

Still it was a lovely morning and there were lots of real birds about so I set off to explore the other lagoons. The first photo opportunity was a Snipe lit up like a beacon by the early morning sun.

There were hundreds of Dunlin across the lagoons with a few Curlew Sandpipers feeding with them.

Juvenile Dunlin

Adults showing black belly patch diagnostic

I was hoping to get the Curlew Sandpiper in flight with the Dunlin but I cannot see one in this picture. Spotting the Curlew Sandpiper was easy against the summer plumage adult Dunlin but there can be some confusion with the Juveniles and in winter plumage I would struggle to tell the difference between the two.

Curlew Sandpiper - moulting from summer to winter plumage

I was told that there was a Little Stint around but I did not manage to see it. There were Ringed Plovers and Little Ringed Plovers at various points across the lagoons. The bird below gave me a few problems. My initial thought was Kentish Plover but you need to look at the more obvious first. Its a juvenile and I think a juvenile Little Ringed Plover but I am not 100% sure.

Juvenile Little Ringed Plover ?

Redshank, Curlew, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper and families of Egrets all gave picture opportunities and there were Turnstones and Sanderling on the foreshore.

Greenshank

Little Egrets

Redshank

 I then had a decision to make. I could see through the binoculars that a number of birders were gathering around Butts Lagoon. Do I go back or do I explore the rest of the marshes first? Then the panic sets in - its sure to be showing now and its going to fly away before I can get back there.

I didn't run but equally I didn't stop for any pictures on the way back. The bird was visible but it was hunkered down in the reeds on an island in the middle of the lagoon. Collins says that shape, action, and plumage suggest a cross between Snipe and Bar-tailed Godwits. For me its actions were much more Snipe like. In all the time I watched it did not move more than a foot from the reeds and when the other birds on the lagoon were spooked into the air it dived straight into the reeds to hide.

Snipe and the Snipe like Long-billed Dowitcher

Picture opportunities were limited. The bird stepped out of the reeds a few times to preen but it did not feed and it did not fly. With no chance of getting closer and with difficulty separating the bird from the reeds in the background it ended up as record shots only.

Staying close to the reeds

Showing barred tail feathers and white back

Facing up to local duck

Barred tail and white back

Long-billed Dowitcher

Perhaps disappointing as far as the pictures go but a great bird to see and a life tick for me.