Dartford Warbler

 

It is always good to see an unusual bird turn up close to home and a Dartford Warbler within walking distance, in a local park, was an opportunity not to be missed. 

The location Brooklands was unexpected. It is a run down recreation park and small lake on the seafront in Worthing although in fairness it is in the process of being converted into more of a nature park. An "outdoor interactive classroom and science learning resource" I think they will be calling it.

There is a small area of rough grass and low vegetation close to the lake that has attracted a couple of Stonechats and a Dartford Warbler. There is not much cover and there are a lot of dogs about but the birds seem quite happy in the area.

The birds displayed typical behaviour with the warbler following the Stonechats, staying low in the undergrowth and feeding low and on the ground, whilst the Stonechat stays high and prefers to perch on top of the undergrowth. It is typical of behaviour seen on the commons in the north of the county and is often the easiest way to find a Dartford Warbler.

The arrangement seems a bit one sided in favour of the warbler. It has the Stonechats providing an early warning system and alarm calls for any dangers and it has longer to forage for food as the Stonechats probably locate good foraging areas for it as well as providing a level of cover. I cannot see any advantage for the Stonechat and there must be an impact on their foraging from loss of food to the warbler.

There doesn't seem to be any attempt by the Stonechats to drive the warbler away although they do seem to move on a bit more rapidly when they have a Dartford Warbler in attendance.

As you would expect I took a lot more pictures but Dartford Warblers are not the easiest of birds when it comes to getting good images. They prefer staying in cover and it is difficult getting them in focus.

January has drawn to an end and it seems to have deliver a lot of rain but there were also some good birding days towards the end of the month. The highlight must be the Sabine's Gull which will probably also be the highlight of the year. I did go back for another look but I couldn't really improve on the pictures I had.

Sabine's Gull

Sabine's Gull

Other observations on the month - more Firecrests and Bullfinches than I usually see in a year.

Bullfinch - a female this time and easily a match for the more showy male.

Firecrest

More Wrens than usual but no Yellowhammers or Siskins and I only found a Corn Bunting on the last day of the month.

Wren

Corn Bunting

And who can resist a Long-tailed Tit.

Long-tailed Tit

Great Grey Shrike

In the last blog I complained about the shortage of good birding days during October but we then manage to squeeze in one good day just before the end of the month.

Dave and I went back to Wrens Warren, in the Ashdown Forest, to have another look for the Great Grey Shrike. We had tried it last Friday but had seen very little in the way of bird movement. It really had lived up to it's other name of "Eeyores sad and gloomy place", with the lighting down in the valley so dull compared to the surrounding hills.

Today was completely different, a bit slow to start but cold, crisp and clear. A couple of wet feet early on whilst traversing the valley reminded me that my favourite boots, splits and all, must be replaced for the coming winter and distant Fieldfares held promise of things to come.

A couple of passing birders tipped us off to the location of the Shrike but just at that moment Dave had picked up a Dartford Warbler in the gorse nearby. A good picture of a Dartford takes priority over a Shrike so we focused on that target first.

It did pop out on top of the gorse once, a bit further away than I would have like and not for as long as I would have liked and I did get a picture, but it's not the one I wanted. Just didn't manage to pull focus quick enough and it was gone. Or perhaps I should say they were gone as there was a second bird there, so probably a pair. Hopefully we will get a second chance later in the year.

Dartford Warbler

A quick lunch, a chance to dry the feet out a bit and then we trekked up the hill in search of the Shrike. They are not a bird that hides away so once in the right area it was easy enough to find.

Camera settings were interesting. With a white bird in bright sunlight I had to underexpose by a full two stops to prevent the picture from being burnt out. This then underexposes the background trees giving a black background and a slightly false looking studio type shot.

Coughing up a pellet

Unlike the Dartfords the Shrike seemed quite relaxed about our presence, flying off a couple of times but then returning to the same perches.

We eventually lost track of it when it was pursued by a Kestrel. The Shrike took refuge in a densely branched tree whilst the Kestrel sat and then hovered over the top but was unable to get past the branches. It was a half hearted pursuit and I don't think the Kestrel was intent on killing the Shrike but it may have been seeking to pinch food from it or to chase it out of its hunting territory.

Whatever the intent, it was enough to ensure that the shrike did not return during the next half hour or so that we waited there.

Well pleased with the time spent observing the Shrike we were about to leave when a dozen or more Crossbills flew into an adjacent tree on their way into a drinking pool. I missed the first few shots as I had forgotten to take the couple of stops underexposure out of the camera but I still managed a reasonable record shot.

Some of the Crossbills

The drinking pool was nearby and although we could not get close without risking disturbing them, you do sometimes get the benefit of lugging a big lens combination all the way up the hill.

A flock of fourteen fieldfares flying down the valley as we were on the way out finished what was one of the best birding days in a long time.

Goosanders

Tuesday we went looking for the Goosander on Petworth Park Lower Pond. There was one swimming around when we arrived and three more flew in whilst we watched. These are never an easy bird to photograph. If you can get close, which is very difficult, you then have problems with the contrast, either burning out the whites or ending up with the head black, showing none of the green colour and often no eye.

This time the lighting was ideal, bright but diffuse, but the Goosander would not cooperate. I tried walking round the pool but they always stayed on the complete opposite side. If I changed direction they changed direction as well. I tried sitting in cover and waiting for them to drift over towards me, they didn't. Eventually I approached their position under cover of the bank, just poking my head up at the last moment. I didn't even get the chance of one picture. They saw me immediately and disappeared to the far side of the pool.

Fortunately the Egyptian Geese were a bit more trusting and gave a few good picture opportunities.

We then visited a couple of the commons looking for Dartford Warblers. There numbers have certainly increased on the south coast over the past three or four years but you always worry that a hard winter could see their numbers decimated again.

 We found two, or possibly three of the Dartfords. The easiest way to locate them seems to be to find Stonechats then to look for the Dartfords which often follow them around staying low and hidden in the undergrowth.

On Tuesday we did a circuit through Kent. An early start enabled us to spend a rather unwelcome couple of hours birding the M23 from a stationary car. This following a thirteen car pile up. We should have gone along the coastal route to Dungeness but had included a quick stopover in Strood to pick up year ticks on the Waxwings. We just couldn't risk them turning round and heading for home without ever reaching Sussex.

Standing outside the Bounty Pub in a busy housing estate is not my idea of fun birding but I did at least get one reasonable picture. We counted thirteen birds in total but they stayed mostly in the tree tops just making occasional visits to pick berries from the lower trees.

Key target for the day was the Red-necked Grebe resident on one of the pools to the west of Camber. It had been there for over a week. It's a bird that I have often seen at a distance but have never been able to get close enough to get a picture. And so it proved today. We found a couple of Coots but the Red-necked Grebe seems to have moved on. What is worse is that we drove past the pool last week, before it was reported, but were short of time and did not stop for a look.


Consolation was that the Long-eared Owl behind the dipping pool at Dungeness RSPB, that we had missed last week, has now turned into two Long eared Owls. Really great to see but still very difficult to photograph.

We found the Ring-necked Duck easily enough but it was more distant than last week so we moved on to look for the Stejnegers Stonechat again. I am not sure what we are doing wrong but this is the third time we have drawn a blank. I keep reading reports about how easy it is to find and talking to people who have just seen it but it is not working for us.


A stop at Scotney Pitts gave an assortment of geese but nothing unusual and a search at Pett Level eventually gave us very distant views of the Taiga Bean Geese. We finished off at Pevensey Levels searching for an Owls but again drew a blank


A long day with some good birds and some missed opportunities. It looks as though we will have to go back for fourth time lucky with the Stejnegers

Dartford Warbler

I went looking for a Merlin today. It's one of those birds that I have never really seen and for which I have certainly never managed to get a decent record shot. There had been one reported on the west side of Medmerry and with a Dartford Warbler also reported at Park Farm it seemed worth a trip out.

Park Farm proved to be a nice walk but there was no sign of the Dartford so it was on to Medmerry. Initially it looked promising. A bird flew through, low and fast with crows in hot pursuit. It looked a good possibility, so I set off on a slightly slower pursuit. The crows turned back and the bird disappeared from sight. Then I picked up something sitting on a post. A careful approach and I had it - except that it turned out to be a Kestrel. A different bird or the one chased by the crows? I will never know.

Kestrel

It wasn't all bad news though, a little further along the track I found another Dartford Warbler. As is their way, it stayed mostly low in the gorse, just occasionally appearing for a few seconds out in the open. It was a case of point, shoot and hope for the best, but after about half an hour of trying I did eventually get a shot that was in focus.

There were plenty of ducks on the Stilt Pond but very little else. Distant flocks of Brents, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Linnets, Goldfinches but nothing to get exited about. The weather had been threatening all day and the light was poor so I decided to head for home.

On the way back to the car a couple of unusual geese attracted my attention. Two Bar-headed Geese in with a small flock of twenty two Canada Geese. It was interesting to see that these were fully integrated into the flock. The one below being on point duty whilst the rest of the flock were feeding.

So another day of meagre returns. West Sussex still seems a bit slow when compared with the rest of the country.

Dartford Warblers (again)

The post should have been titled Great Grey Shrike but things rarely go to plan. I had managed to get a couple of hours birding on a Saturday. An unusual occurrence, brought about by the wife having to attending a course and leaving me with the afternoon free. The plan was to head up to Iping Common to see the Shrike and I did eventually get to see it but not before being waylaid by an obliging Dartford Warbler.

I had been searching for the shrike for about an hour without any luck and without really seeing any birds at all. I stopped to consider what to do next but then saw a dark flash as a small bird disappeared into the gorse bush in front of me. That's usually all you see but this time the bird popped out on top of the bush and sat looking at me.

And it stayed to have its picture taken..... a good few times

I like the little white flash over the left eye. It will be interesting to see if I can spot it again later in the year.

Refreshed by having found a decent bird I set off in search of the Shrike again. There was no sign of it in its usual dead Birch Tree but I eventually found it flying three or for hundred metres to the south west of the car park. This is not a bird that is easy to approach, so I settle for a couple of distant record shots and left it in peace.

Poor framing but it was the only flight shot with the whole of the bird in picture

The light was going but I thought it was worth taking a small detour to see if the Little Owl was visible in its usual tree at Stapleash Farm. For anyone who does not know the location of the usual tree, see my blog of  January 2013, but be aware that one of the trees in the picture has now blown down.

This is a bird that really does not like to co-operate. At the first sign of anyone watching it runs along the branch into cover. This time I did not even get to see that, as it was already well concealed when I arrived.

An enjoyable afternoons birding with a few additions to the year list which is ticking along nicely.

Dartford Warblers

Having had a disappointing days birding yesterday we decided to head inland today and visit Iping Common. Yesterday had been ruined by a weather forecast that had got it completely wrong. The promised day of sunshine and clear skies through to late afternoon had in fact lasted to about ten in the morning when a cold wind, dark skies, and a general air of gloom settled over us.

Today's forecast had changed from strong winds and storms to yet again a promise of clear skies and sun. We were sceptical, with some justification as it turned out, but decided to give the birding a go anyway.

On arriving at the common we headed up to the north west corner where a large birch tree covered in bracket fungus is located. The target was the reported Great Grey Shrike and the tree is a perch that has been favoured by previous Shrikes visiting the common.

Our initial search did not locate the Shrike but we were quickly sidetracked by a small flock of Goldcrests and then by a Dartford Warbler that Dave managed to locate. The shrike eventually returned to the Birch tree and we had good if distant views of the bird.

Great Grey Shrike

A walk around the common gave us some of the usual birds and then another pair of Dartford Warblers. It also signalled the onset of another overcast sky and eventually of rain. The score so far is BBC weather forecasters  0 , the weather  2.

The Dartford Warblers are always difficult to photograph. They are fast moving and tend to stay in cover but they are a beautiful looking bird and a great prize for the photographer who gets a clear shot.

Dartford Warbler

We had plenty of sightings over a period of about an hour but there were few good picture opportunities. The birds would stop and look at us and when they moved out of the Gorse into the Birch saplings you had some reasonable views but there were usually twigs or small branches obstructing the views. It was all very frustrating but eventually I managed a clear shot.

Dartford Warbler

Still not perfect but easily my best shot of a Dartford Warbler to date.

Dartford Warblers

This blog should have been called Wryneck but I have managed to dip on two more birds, one in the fields to the east of Budds Farm sewerage works and the other on the North Wall at Pagham Harbour. You would think that would have made for a disappointing day but the Red-backed Shrike and a couple of Dartford Warblers on Hayling Island gave us some good birding even if sandwiched between failures on the Wryneck at the beginning and end of the day.

Budds Farm is always worth a visit, great ponds even if you have the sewerage works as a backdrop and always the chance of some unusual ducks during the winter. There is a wonderful Willow tree there that has recently been taken over by the Herons and Egrets. It looks ok at the moment but I doubt the tree will last very long with all the extra fertiliser that it is going to get.

Heron and Egret Roost

There have been a couple of reported sightings of the Wryneck at Budds Farm and I have made two seperate visits to look for it but both with no success. There were plenty of Willchaffs and a large Long-tailed Tit flock but nothing else of real interest other than a Grey Seal out in the harbour and a Small Copper abberation.

Long-tailed Tit

A well worn Small Copper ab.caeruleopunctata 

We moved on to Sandy Point on Hayling Island to get Dave his year tick on the Red-backed Shrike. Fortunately this was easier to spot than the Wryneck. You cannot enter the Nature Reserve so all my shots are a bit distant. I had been hoping to improve on the ones I had taken last week but these look no better.

Red-backed Shrike

and with captured moth

The surprise was in finding at least two Dartford Warblers on the site. When the Shrike ducked out of view we started watching a a small group, possibly a family, of Stonechats moving around the reserve. They were easy to spot sitting out on top of the brambles and gorse but they were being accompanied by a couple of birds that looked darker and always disappeared into the vegetation below them. We eventually got decent views and it was clear that they were Dartford Warblers.

They are never easy to photograph and this is the best image that I managed to get

Dartford Warbler

I had always thought that Dartfords and Stonechats were competitors for territory but here they formed a definite flock. Whenever the Stonechats moved on the Dartfords would follow and go into cover in the bush on which the Stonechats had perched.

Stonechat

Finally we moved on to Pagham North Wall, to be told that a Wryneck had been showing well there for most of the day. Not for us though. We waited a couple of hours and had one view of a woodpecker type flight between two low bushes but it was not enough to confirm the sighting.

Have a look at the Pagham Birders site for some great shots including one with the bird sticking its tongue out. Great timing by Trevor in getting the shot, not so good by us in turning up too late.

Dartford Warblers Revisited

I went to have another look at the Dartford Warblers today. Walking around the commons there were plenty of Stonechats visible but the Dartfords were a lot harder to find. It was possible to do a 360 degree scan and spot four or five Stonechat pairs sitting out on their territory but the Dartfords appeared to be covering a much larger area.

Having found a suitable spot I found the best way to see them was to sit quietly under a large gorse bush and wait for them to come to me. I still haven't got that perfect picture that I am looking for but it is getting closer. I just need the bird to slow down a bit, it moves a lot faster than my autofocus or my ability to do a manual focus.

Dartford Warbler

There did not appear to be much else about on the commons. I was hoping for a Woodlark but I could not see any sign of them. Everything that moved seemed to be a Stonechat.

Stonechat

I still haven't seen a Corn Bunting this year so in the afternoon I headed up to the Burgh. Their were good views of the usual Buzzards and Red Kites and I also flushed a few Grey Partridges but I could not find any of the usual small birds. Even the Yellowhammers were absent.

Red Kite