Glaucous Gull

I finally caught up with the juvenile Glaucous Gull late afternoon on Thursday on what was my fourth attempt. Even in a field full of Gulls it was easy to pick out. It is nearly as large as a Great Black-backed Gull and has a very pale white and ochrous-brown mottled effect colouration. The bill is also distinctive being large and pink with just the end being clearly demarcated in a dark brown/black colour.

Glaucous Gull

Size comparison with Black-headed Gulls

Glaucous Gull - as seen for most of the time

See my blog of March 2013 for pictures of an adult Glaucous Gull at Dungeness.

Other birds present on the gull roost in addition to various gulls were Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Grey Plover.

Dunlin at roost

Dunlin

Ringed Plover

Earlier in the day we had paid a return visit to Rooksbury Mill and Pinglestone Watercress beds. With the weather bright and clear we had hoped to improve on the picture of the Ring-necked Ducks  we had taken on the mill pond early in December. The ducks were still present, the weather was perfect, but unfortunately the ducks were still wary and kept there distance so I came away with no real improvement on the pictures I had taken previously.

Ring-necked Ducks

Ring-necked Ducks

Other ducks on the Mill Pond were more obliging. Male and female Gadwall came close as did an assortment of Tufted ducks.

Gadwall

Gadwall Female

Tufted Duck

All with the ever present Heron keeping a watch over them.

Grey Heron

The visit to the watercress beds also prove a little frustrating. We saw Green Sandpiper and Grey Wagtails along with a lot of Little Egrets but they were all too distant for photographs. The real targets of the visit had been Water Pipits. Did we see them? Well maybe, there were two pipits, light in colour, pinkish legs, white underneath, and at least one with a bright supercilium. They looked good but we couldn't be sure, so this year tick will have to wait for another day.

A good days birding and in nice weather conditions for a change and it was particularly pleasing to finally catch up with the Glaucous Gull.

Black-throated Diver

On Thursday evening there were some superb pictures of a summer plumage Black-throated Diver posted on the web. They were taken at Farmoor Reservoir near Oxford. Now I may not be into "twitching" or keen on travelling long distances for a bird, but I will travel for a good picture and these were too good to ignore. So Friday morning, I was in the car early and off to Oxford full of anticipation for the show stopping shots I was about to get.

Great plan but the execution was not quite as good. Nobody had told the bird to co-operate. Just before I arrived it had been feeding at the edge of the reservoir but it had been flushed by one of the anglers boats and when I arrived it was sitting out in the middle of the water and there it stayed.

I walked around the reservoir a couple of times. Somehow they always looks closer to the far bank but they never are once you walk round there. It was probably going to come in closer to the bank to feed at some stage but I had to get away about three o'clock to get home for an evening commitment.

This was my best shot. Its a big reservoir and with a 500mm lens, 1.4 extender and 1.6 multiplier in the camera this was the best I could get.

Distant Black-throated diver in the centre

You can blow it up in Photoshop but it's never going to give you a good picture and cannot compare with those taken the day before when the people had it ten to twenty feet from the camera. It just gives me an idea of what I missed.

Heavy crop of the shot above.

Still it was not a wasted trip. As well as the Diver, I saw my first Yellow Wagtails of the year, although I did not stop to photograph them as I was so keen to get to the Diver.

There was also this odd couple sitting on the reservoir causeway. They seemed inseparable and were not at all phased by the walkers, birders and photographers coming within a few feet of them - not me of course.

Dunlin and Sanderling

Summer plumage Dunlin

Summer plumage Sanderling

I went back to look for the Yellow Wagtails but they were gone. The best I could manage was a Pied.

Pied Wagtail

It was a long drive home with the thoughts of the missed opportunity but at least I came away with a couple of year ticks.

Shorelark

Reculver had been looking to be worth a visit for a few days. Shorelark, Snow Bunting, Lapland Bunting, and Desert Wheatear had all been present and showing well. Unfortunately other commitments had kept me away over the weekend, so Monday it was pick up Dave and head over to Kent to see if there was anything left. From reports it looked as though the Lapland bunting had gone but we were hopeful of the other three.

Delaying to the Monday was good in one respect in that whilst there were a few birders about we had missed out on the twitch that would have taken place over the weekend. Unfortunately we had also missed out on the Desert Wheatear that appeared to have moved on overnight. I was not too worried at this, the year tick would have been nice but we had good photographs of this bird from one that had turned up at Worthing in October 2012. The Shorelark was the main target of the day.

A walk along the sea wall from Reculver Castle towards Coldharbour Lagoon soon found us in the right area but with the usual message of "its just flown you should have been here ten minutes ago". We only had a short wait before it returned and gave good views and with the clouds clearing we also had good lighting, a rare combination.

The Snow Buntings proved a bit harder to find but we eventually caught up with them.

There was a large supporting cast of birds just off the sea wall and plenty of picture opportunities.

Dunlin

Juvenile Ringed Plover

Stonechat

Turnstones

Cormorant

Kestrel

Early afternoon and we set off for home with a planned stop off at Oare Marshes. There was the nagging suspicion that the Desert Wheatear would turn up just after we left but overall we were happy with pictures that we had managed to get.

Oare marshes always gives you plenty of birds to look at, so much so that it is often impossible to get a decent picture, but what you do get is a great atmosphere. As you open the car door a wall of noise hits you and there is continual movement as birds move around and squabble for the standing room that is in short supply and flocks of different birds swirl overhead.

Standing room only

Pintails against a wall of Waders

Black-tailed Godwits in flight

It was a long way to drive for a non twitcher but we had a great days birding. Reculver is a place I will be going back to. It has the one thing missing along the South Coast, the sun is over your shoulder when you are taking pictures out to sea.

Common Sandpiper

The autumn migration is underway and I have been trying to plug a few of the gaps in my year list caused by missing the birds during the spring. Wednesday saw a reasonably successful trip over to Pagham Harbour. I managed to pick up Little Ringed Plover and Green Sandpiper on the Ferry Pool and a Reed Warbler on the North Wall but they were all too far away for a picture. That left me with with just a butterfly and a dragonfly to show for the day out. So much for my first day back on serious birding.

Holly Blue

Migrant Hawker

I had not managed to find a Common Sandpiper on the trip to Pagham so Friday I took a couple of hours out and went to Arlington Reservoir. With the water in the reservoir low there were a surprising number of birds there, loafing on the exposed mud. The Canada and Greylag geese along with various gulls were the most numerous but there were other interesting birds as well.

Juvenile Egyptian Goose

This juvenile Egyptian Goose had me wondering for a few seconds until the adult, displaying the more familiar dark eye patches and white wing bars, came into view.

There were at least three Common Sandpipers on the dam wall. The first was very flighty but the other two gave good views. The pale edging to the wing feathers and barring on the back suggests the second bird is a juvenile.

Common Sandpiper

Juvenile Common Sandpiper

Other birds on the wall were a Ringed Plover, a Juvenile Dunlin, and the usual juvenile Pied Wagtails.

Ringed Plover

Ringed  Plover (the other side)

Juvenile Dunlin

Pale or warm brown fringing on feathers and silvery V on scapulars
 show this as a juvenile bird

There were lots of "little brown" birds in the hedgerows but I did not have time to stop and look for anything unusual. A pity really as I still need a Lesser Whitethroat for this years list.

Finally, ever wondered what goes into your drinking water. This pipe has been exposed by the low water levels. I am sure the water must be OK by the time it gets to you but it doesn't look very healthy.

Emptying into Arlington Reservoir

Arlington and the Cuckmere

The birding has been a bit disappointing this week. I was out Monday at Pagham Harbour still hoping to catch up with a Pied Flycatcher before they all disappear and also to get a photograph of the Little Stints on the Ferry Pool. I did get to see the Stints through a telescope, but there was no chance of a picture as they were on the far side of the pool.

There are often good birds on the pool but they usually stay well away from the road and the hide. Top of my wish list, now that the RSPB has taken over at Pagham, is for them to somehow get permission to build a hide on the south side of the Ferry Pool giving views out over the more promising western end.

There were a few Spotted Flycatchers around the churchyard but no sign of a Pied so my only photographs for the day were of Wheatears on the North Wall.

Today has not been much better. We set off with targets of pictures of the Little Stint at Arlington Reservoir and Curlew Sandpiper at Cuckmere Haven. A walk round Arlington gave plenty of ducks and geese but only distant views of a Greenshank and no sign of the Little Stint. Fortunately the Pied Wagtails on the dam wall were as obliging as always.

Juvenile Pied Wagtail

Initially the Cuckmere looked promising. Plenty of birds on the mud looking to be about the right size for the Curlew Sandpiper. Closer inspection though, showed them all to be Dunlin. Nice birds and easy to photograph but not what we came for.

There were also a good number of Ringed Plover along the river banks, along with a Bar-tailed Godwit, a Redshank and a couple of Sandwich Terns. The birds were regularly flushed by dogs but still gave some good views.

Ringed Plover

Juvenile Ringed Plover

Bar-tailed Godwit

Juvenile Redshank

On the way home we called in at Seaford and had a look around Hope Gap. The best we saw was four Jackdaws flying over. Nothing else was moving. This was my third visit in the past couple of months and my best sightings list so far. It must be a timing issue. I will have to make an early morning visit to see if I can connect with the sort of birding list that is regularly reported from there.

I suppose we had a good days birding but it would have been so much better if we had hit one of our targets. Fortunately there are still a few butterflies around to compensate for the missed birds.

Common Blue

Small Heath