Pectoral Sandpiper and Grey Phalarope

I did a few jobs around the house and then with the sun shining outside I thought I would make a return trip to the Ferry Pool to see if I could improve on yesterdays picture of the Grey Phalarope. As I arrived I could see a group of people standing by the road and pointing there scopes and cameras down into the reeds. It all looked very promising.

I parked the car and crossed the road to what must be my least favourite birding spot. You stand on a path no more than three foot wide, with a low metal railing and the pool below on one side and on the other the cars, HGVs and buses thundering past. The strange thing is that the birds don't seem to be fazed by all the movement and noise.

The Phalarope and the Pectoral Sandpiper were feeding in the reeds no more than twenty feet from the traffic and less than that from the assembled birders. They didn't even seem to be upset by the occasional, more mentally challenged, members of the Selsey community that feel obliged to go by sounding their horns. I am not sure if they hope to scare the birds away or perhaps just to frighten one of the birders into jumping into the pool.

So, the birds were close and the sun shining, I should have superb pictures. Nearly, but not quite, I should have done better. I would have prefer diffuse sunlight, the angle of the sun was wrong, I was photographing down onto the birds, it was difficult to get a clear shot through the reeds, and the reeds were casting shadows over the birds. I could probably think of a few more excuses as well.

So here we go with the Pec Sand first. Fortunately you don't have to look at all the ones that didn't make the grade.

and the Grey Phalarope. I think this one spotted me hiding behind all the scopes and objected to having its photograph taken, so I only got a few shots before it flew off to the back of the pool.

This was a really beautiful bird. I think I will have to go back and have another go at this one.

Red-necked Phalarope

Yesterday was a bit of a mixed bag. A short seawatch at Selsey Bill delivered one Gannet and a couple of Terns. Fortunately there was a small flock of House Martins gathering mud for nests that helped relieve the boredom.

House Martin

I made a couple of stops at the Ferry Pool to look for the Black-winged Stilt. It was there both times but right at the back of the pool and beyond the range of the camera. The pool held a good selection of the usual birds but nothing really close enough for a decent picture. The Greenshank below is probably the best of the record shots.

Greenshank

The day looked a bit of a washout until, when cooking dinner at 19.30, an alert came through for a Red-necked Phalarope on Widewater Lagoon. I had seen one on the Ferry Pool only four days ago but as with most sightings at that location it was too far away for a picture. Widewater is much smaller and usually offers much closer views. I abandoned the cooking and made my way over to Shoreham to join the gathering band of local birders.

Scope views were excellent but in the gathering gloom picture opportunities were limited. They are not brilliant but these are the only pictures I have of this species.

Red-necked Phalarope

The bird looked as though it was going to roost for the night so I was up before dawn and over at Widewater by 0500, but it was a wasted trip. There was no sign of the Phalarope.

Can't complain though. I am now down to a shortlist of just six birds that I have seen but failed to photograph.

Dusky Warbler and Hume's Leaf Warbler - Good views but just too fast for me to get in the camera's viewfinder and focus on them.

Arctic Skua  and Green-winged Teal - too far away

Woodcock - I had a picture but didn't think it was good enough so deleted it. Bad mistake.

White Stork - I was too busy watching the bird and forgot to take a picture.

Who needs a year list when faced with this challenge?

Black-winged Stilt

I was back at Pagham Harbour Ferry Pool early this morning and fortunately so was the Black-winged Stilt. It was hiding behind the reeds when I got there but then came out, gave me a chance to take a couple of distant shots and then flew to the back of the pool where it was beyond my range. It's not a brilliant shot but I am happy to have it, although I wouldn't complain if it decided to give me a close up exclusive.

Black-winged Stilt

There were about sixty Black-tailed Godwits on the pool and another larger flock wheeling out over the harbour. Other birds of interest were a Little Ringed Plover, a majestic looking Grey Heron, and a Spotted Redshank.

Little Ringed Plover

Grey Heron

Black-tailed Godwits with what looks like a Spotted Redshank turning summer plumage on the left

I had a walk around Northcommon Farm but all the migrants from the past couple of days seem to have moved on. All I could see were three Wheatears and a very distant Hobby passing through in the fields at the end of Golf Links Lane.

Hobby

Church Norton was very similar with just a few of the usual suspects on the water and in the bushes and a couple of possible Whimbrels out in the harbour. The church yard itself was being subjected to its usual cut and burn maintenance so there was little point in looking in there. The only bird worth photographing was this Lapwing seen in the fields by Rectory Lane.

Lapwing

I finished up at the North Wall which has been very disappointing of late. At least today there was a good level of water in the Breech Pool although it has probably wiped out anything that had started to nest in the dried out conditions that have prevailed of late.

There were two Wheatears feeding along the wall and a couple of Little Grebes in one of the pools.

Wheatear

Little Grebe

Another great day, the birding has really taken off over the past week.

Avocets

Beautiful spring weather this morning, sunshine, clear air, and all the right conditions for photography. Just a pity then that the best bird of the day, the Avocet, is the one bird you really need overcast conditions for. Its a really elegant bird and great to watch but the camera just cannot cope with the huge contrast between the black and white in bright sunlight.

Avocet - Ferry Pool Pagham Harbour

Still with the birds going through their mating ritual and with the possibility of successful breeding pairs on the Ferry Pool it was worth getting a record.

Seeing off the other contenders

Female bending forward and lowering her head into the water in submission (or as an invitation?)

Mating

Followed by the kiss - touching bills

There were no real signs of the migration getting into full swing. The week has proved to be a bit slow and today was no different.We did see a few Wheatears but there were no picture opportunities. Chiffchaffs could be heard all around, and the usual suspects were much in evidence.

Chiffchaff

Linnet

Treecreeper 

Song Thrush

The warm weather today did see more butterflies on the wing so there should be some good picture opportunities soon and Dragonflies are not far away.

Comma

Ruddy Shelduck Again

The shots of the Ruddy Shelducks I took last week were a bit distant and I was keen to get back to have another go. We had intended to walk down the east side of Pagham Harbour to look for them but Dave suggested that we should try on the Ferry Pool first as that is where most of the Shelducks go to roost during high tide.

Good thinking on Dave's part, we got on to them straight away. Dull and overcast conditions meant that the lighting was poor with shutter speeds of around 1/80sec, but the pictures were still better than those that I got last week.

Ruddy Shelduck on the Ferry Pool

Showing white wing patches

With the light fading even further we decided to have a look at Church Norton and the beach and then try the Shelducks again later. There were Long Tailed Ducks, Mergansers, and Great Crested Grebes out on the sea but nothing close in, so after about an hour we found ourselves back at the Ferry Pool.

It looked like a bit of a wasted effort at first, the lighting had improved but everything seemed to be asleep. I was just thinking there was no point in taking pictures when all the birds took to the air. We did not see what caused it but it was probably a Peregrine going through.

A bit blurred but seems to suggest there are no leg rings

It took me a bit by surprise. I managed to get a few shots as the birds took off but I had the wrong settings on the camera and could not hold focus, so there is only one decent picture.

Ruddy Shelduck and Lapwing in flight.

 The birds then relocated out into the harbour. We saw them again later when we went round to the North Wall but they were again distant.

Back out in the middle of the Harbour

Water levels were again high on the North Wall and there was nothing much to see on the Breech Pool. Movement of the flocks out on the harbour was interesting but the only photo opportunities were a couple of flybys from the local Kingfisher.

Perhaps she fancies taking on one of the mullet out in the harbour!

With the light still poor and the temperature dropping we decided to call it a day and headed for home at midday.