Mostly Widewater

You get some good birds at Widewater but getting pictures of them can be hard work. Pick the right day and the right time and there are some good opportunities. Get the timing wrong and you leave empty handed, only to read reports of the successes of others when you get home that evening.

You also have to contend with dogs charging out into the reserve and flushing the birds and also the occasional overeager photographer doing the same. Just what you need when you have been sat there for an hour or so waiting for the birds to come closer.

I even flushed the Goosander myself today. I watched it for about five minutes and then decided that I should pay for a parking ticket before I got the camera out. The Goosander must have good hearing as it took off just as my money disappeared into the machine.

Anyway here are a few pictures taken at Widewater over the past month or so.

There has been at least one male and two females at Widewater over the past month so I am not sure that these are all pictures of the same bird. As for seeing them, if they are not out on the water they can often be found roosting on the lawn of one of the houses. Have a look about halfway down the western most lake.

Pull up at the western end of the car park and the resident Stonechats will usually come over to see what you are doing there.

And over the New Year period we had a Knot in residence for a few days. It is always a bit worrying when you see a flock bird by itself but it looked healthy enough and was feeding well.

To finish a couple of pictures not from Widewater, the juvenile Black Guillemot from Sovereign Harbour Eastbourne and a couple of shots of Fulmars from Newhaven West Cliffs.

A useful blog, it has cleared out a some pictures that have been sitting in my pending tray for a few weeks. All now filed away and a clear inbox just waiting for the next great adventure!

Puffins

I had a great family holiday in Northumberland. We stayed in a cottage just over a mile north of Belford and about four miles from the coast. Very peaceful, good company, lots of walking, a few beers and we even managed to squeeze in a bit of bird watching. In fact the whole family volunteered to do the Billy Shields all day birding trip to Inner Farne and Staple Island with me.

I am not sure that is exactly what I had in mind but I am glad they came. They all seemed to enjoy the experience, including being attacked by the Arctic Terns. Although my two sons were probably not so enthusiastic about a well aimed deposit from one of the gulls that just missed me but gave both of them a traditional welcome to the islands.

Staple Island was the first stop and fortunately I had been warned not to take the big lens. A 200mm or better still a 100-300 zoom is probably ideal. I felt sorry for the guy that had lugged his 800mm up the steps from the boat. It would have been almost impossible to get far enough away from any of the birds to get a picture.

Puffins and Shags were the main reason for visiting Staple Island. I have seen lots before but I have never been this close to them.

It was nice to get the picture opportunities but it was also a bit disconcerting. There was no need for any field craft or any need to take care to avoid disturbing the birds other than by not stepping on their nests. I am sure people got pictures as good as or better than mine just by walking up and pointing their mobile phones at them.

You should have seen the one that got away

 My initial thoughts were, are we disturbing the birds and should we be here at all. Then you see a Shag on a nest with a couple of chicks (Shaglets?) and a group of young children sitting round the nest within touching distance. The bird does not seem to be concerned. It may well have nested in that spot before and knows that it is not at risk and in fact is probably safer from predators by being choosing to be close to people.

Plenty of opportunity for Puffins in flight but perhaps not enough light to be able to freeze the action.

Shags, probably the least concerned of all the birds by the presence of people.

I was really there to photograph the Puffins and Shags but there were a good selection of other birds on offer. I was quite suprised to find that I only came away with a single picture of a Guillimot. Perhaps I should have spent longer concentrating on them.

Razorbill

Fulmar

Guillemot

Kittiwake

In the afternoon we moved on to Inner Farne, seeing a similar selection of birds plus the Terns.

Red-throated Diver

I had great views of the Red-throated Diver at Arlington today. Winter plumage of course, so no red throat at the moment but still a great bird to photograph. I had about fifteen minutes with the bird all to myself, until a dog walker turned up and walked too close, resulting in the diver heading out towards the centre of the reservoir, out of range of the camera (and the dog).

heading off out of range

A great set of pictures but what to do next. There was a big flock of Redwing in the fields south of the Reservoir but they were all a bit distant.

Redwing

So I decided to try the Black Redstart at Tidemills again. It was there but if anything it was even more distant than last time I tried. There is a lot of building work going on in the fenced off compund so the Black Redstart was out in the reptile translocation area most of the time. You can get good telescope views but it is really out of range of the camera and to get a shot you are photographing into the sun. 

I would not normally have bothered with these pictures but there is one new development, it looks as though there is now a female in the area. She seemed interested but I think he needs a bit more encouragement.

Male - keeping his distance

Female - with the male out of focus in the background

I would really like to get a picture of this male but he is proving to be hard work.

Out of interest is anyone aware of what is happening with the reptile translocation area? Have any reptiles been translocated or is this just a cover to support the expansion of the east docks. I would have thought that the two areas were quite different environments?

I finished off the day at Newhaven west. I could not find the Iceland Gull that had been reported there but that may just be a reflection of my gull identification skills. It was worth the visit though just to see the Fulmars setting up their nests on the cliffs.

Fulmars always look like devoted couples.

but aggressive in defending their nest sites

A friendly Turnstone on East Pier - probably use to being fed by the fishermen

A good days birding with some decent photographs to show for it but I have dipped on getting a decent photograph of the Black Redstart yet again.

Ravens

A recent holiday with the family in North Devon proved to be very enjoyable, if just a bit frustrating as far as bird watching went.

I had great plans - a detour on the way down to see the Purple Heron and Red-footed Falcon, a trip to Lundy Island giving me a four hour sea watch and a chance to see the Puffins, and a couple of walks planned for locations with Wood Warblers. If I was really lucky and got a few hot days I might also get an early High Brown Fritillary.

Needless to say, it did not quite happen as planned. We were late leaving due to a hairdressers appointment that I had not factored in (not mine) and I had to abandon the detour. The trip to Lundy was great but I only saw a couple of Gannets and a few Guillemots on the boat trips and the Puffins were too far away for a photograph. I did one of the Wood Warbler walks without seeing any Wood Warblers and then when I went to my banker site at Watersmeet it was so crowded that I couldn't even get into the car park.

Still, there's always something to look at and in flight shots of the Ravens and Fulmars from the local cliffs proved to be one of the best attractions.

Raven

and with a tasty morsel of food!

Raven

Fulmar

Fulmar

Plenty of Grey Wagtails about

Grey Wagtail

and juvenile Grey Wagtails

and even younger Grey Wagtails

Linnet

Rock Pipits in the coastal steams

A Whitethroat

A juvenile Warbler - probably a Chiffchaff

and just for the record a very distant  and heavily cropped shot of a Puffin

It's not the raft of excellent photographs that I had hoped to come home with but it is the record of the birds seen on my holiday.