Glossy Ibis

It has all been a bit slow on the birding front. Dave and I made our annual trip looking for a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and had our usual result, one heard but none seen. The location chosen this year was Burnham Beeches. Plenty of Great Spotted around and drumming and one bird sounding good for a Lesser Spotted but we couldn't get eyes on it.

We did get Red-crested Pochard on Stockers lake but no picture. The Lesser Spotted takes priority so we don't usually get to Stockers until around midday and the Pochards always seem to be taking a siesta on one of the islands. Had to make do with a Goldeneye.

Goldeneye

with a half hearted attempt to impress the ladies

I had a better day out on Tuesday. A long walk around the Wrens Warren area was not looking very promising but just as I was about to leave I had sight of the Great Grey Shrike. It was distant and did not stay perched for long but at least I saw it. The pictures were nowhere near as good as those we had back in October. This time the bird seemed much more flighty and did not return to the perch I had found it on, as it had been happy to do the last time we saw it. It is probably starting to think about migrating back to Scandinavia.

Flushed with success I decided to head down to the Cuckmere to have a look for the Glossy Ibis. This one was a lot easier to find. It was visible from the road just to the east of the Exceat bridge and north of the road, foraging with a small flock of Teal. Again the bird was distant but with no cover or easy access I just took a couple of record shots from the road and left it in peace.

Glossy Ibis

Fortunately I had seen a tweet from Matt Eade reporting three Water Pipits just north of the Cuckmere bridge and I also managed to get views of  at least two of these as well as a number of Rock Pipits that were also in the area.


And finally, today, I managed to catch up with the two White-fronted Geese at Pulborough Brooks, at what was probably my fifth or sixth attempt. Very distant as things always seem to be at Pulborough and seemingly still associating with the Canada Geese so perhaps a little suspect.

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.

Wood Duck

Eyeworth Pond near Fritham is always worth a visit. The birds are fed regularly and are nearly tame and there are always picture opportunities. This year there was the added bonus of a resident Wood Duck. It may well be an escapee but it is living in the wild, and it looks good, so it is worth a picture. What we hadn't realised was that there was a female on the pond as well. Next year we could be going back to photograph wild british born Wood Ducks.

If this happens you would have to question why their status should be any different to that of the british born Cranes from the reintroduction program.

Wood Ducks

Wood Duck

Female Wood Duck

We did initially have a bit of confusion over the female. We had not expected to see it and she looks very similar to the Mandarin Duck female, picture below. However, she does shows the diagnostic darker head, more white around the eye, black nail, and different markings around the base of the bill.
They are quite different when you see the two side by side.

The male Mandarins were also in attendance and there was a small group of Goosanders, one male and four females but as ever they were keeping their distance. Still, not a bad slection of ducks for a small pond.

Mandarin Duck

Mandarin Duck

Goosander with three of his four ladies

We had started the day at Blashford Lakes. It's not one of our favourite sites but the Bramblings are reliable on the feeders outside the Woodland hide. I would have liked to put a picture of them on the blog but you could barely see them through the windows in the hide. The "glass" is badly scratched and fogged and you have difficulty making out any colours on the birds.

Brambling duly ticked we moved on. We did have a quick look out from the Tern Hide but the birds as usual were so far away it was almost like doing a sea watch. The Ivy North Hide does give you a good chance of seeing a Bittern but you have to look at it through heavily tinted blue glass. We gave that a miss. The site has so much potential but seems so poor on delivery.


Eyeworth Pond, however always delivers on the small birds as well as on the ducks and there is no blue glass to get in the way.

Marsh Tit - white spot on upper mandible 

Marsh Tit

Nuthatch

Coal Tit

On the fields driving away from Fritham a flock of forty to fifty Redwings

Redwing

Below a couple of shots from earlier in the week. A rather wet and bedraggled looking Great Grey Shrike at Waltham Brooks. A bit like me that day. He wasn't going anywhere but there was a lot of wet and sticky mud between me and him. I thought better of it and headed off to Arundel Wetland Centre for a cup of tea.

Distant and rather wet Great Grey Shrike

And the Wetland Centre delivered yet another good Kingfisher photo opportunity. There are at least two on the site and they appear very tolerant of people. The only problem is that they are attracting more and more photographers to the site. Good for the WWT funds but not so good if you want the bird to yourself.

Arundel Wetland Centre - Kingfisher

Little Owl

My blogs seems to have been mostly about Owls of late but then who could resist the opportunity to photograph this pair of Little Owls? Dave certainly couldn't and you will see an almost identical set of pictures on his blog. All except for the Firecrest that is and I will get on to that later.

This now looks like a possible nesting pair so forgive me but I am not going to publish any details of their whereabouts.


Later we went to Chichester Gravel Pits to look for the Red-crested Pochard. They were there, on Ivy Lake, but staying well hidden under overhanging willows on the far side of the lake. My thanks to Sarah for putting us onto them, I don't think that we would have found them without her assistance.

With a White-fronted Goose on East Lake, the area became a bit like a birding reunion, with a lot of old faces and a newly shorn Bart Ives (not looking quite so Organic now) turning up to view the birds.

White-fronted Goose

The Great Crested Grebes seem to have suddenly developed their breeding plumage. This is a bird that we tend to ignore for most of the year and then, with a chance of seeing a Weed Dance, they become the centre of attention for a short period. These two looked as though they would kick off but then seemed to loose interest and drifted away.

Great Crested Grebes

Great Crested Grebes

We then decided to head over to Arundel and visit the Wetland Centre. I still haven't managed to get a decent picture of a Firecrest and this is one of the most reliable places for seeing them. There was a great looking bird feeding around some of the brambles with probably half a dozen or more photographers trying to get a picture of it. 

Checking later, Trevor Guy, who we met there, and Dave seemed to have nailed it as probably did everyone else apart from me. Checking the back of the camera showed a lot of empty perches and blurred shots. The best I could manage was this head shot below. Better than nothing but not really the picture I was after.

Firecrest

I suppose I shouldn't be too despondent, at least it's the head, I usually just get the rear end as it flies out of the picture.


One last shot. This is the Ashdown Forest Great Grey Shrike that I saw a couple of days ago. It was about a hundred metres west of the Long car park but very mobile. There were a lot of people and dogs walking in the area and it was avoiding these. You could probably get it down to about forty metres but any closer and it would fly.

If you want to see pictures of a much more obliging bird have a look at my November 2013 blog.

Ashdown Forest Great Grey Shrike

Another great day for bird photography but there was a definite heat haze building this afternoon despite the chill in the air. That window of optimum lighting and clear air is all to brief.

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.

Distant Views

Distant is going to be the theme of this blog. Distant views and long shots and those have been the good days. It seems to have been a couple of weeks since I have had a good birding day. A trip down to the New Forest gave me a Tawney Owl but it was deep in a hole in the tree with only half its back showing. There was also a Great Grey Shrike, a distant shot but it's the only picture I came home with that day.

Great Grey Shrike

We spent most of the morning trying to locate a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that we could occasionally here drumming but did not seem to be able to get anywhere near. I did manage to end up in a bog over my knees - exiting stuff and a good way of improving the camouflage but it hardly makes up for missing the LSW. The afternoon was spent looking for the Long-billed Dowitcher at Pennington Marshes. Our second attempt to get the year tick but we dipped it yet again.

Other days out included three attempts at a Spoonbill. One on Farlington Marsh and two at Cuckmere Haven and a couple of goes at the Red-necked Grebe seen in the Budds Wall area. The birds were all reported on the days I visited so I must just have been unlucky with the timing of my visits.

Today saw us back to the New Forest. It looked like being a sunny day and we had hopes of seeing a Goshawk. It did not quite work out the way we had planned. The mist/fog took a lot longer to clear than we expected so much of the morning was wasted. We decided to divert to Pennington Marsh for another go at the Long-billed Dowitcher and this time we were lucky. Long distance shots but the bird was actively feeding out in the open, as compared to when I saw it back in August of last year, when it was skulking away in the reeds most of the time, looking very much like a Snipe.

Long-billed Dowitcher

It looks a very different bird in its winter plumage with grey breast and white belly. Back in August it had a rusty orange breast and belly.

Snipe with Long-billed Dowitcher disappearing into the reeds

And with Wigeon landing in the background

The water levels in the marshes were considerably down on last week and waders were more in evidence although I have yet to see any form of Sandpiper this year. Most birds were too distant for good photographs although the diffuse lighting enabled a reasonable shot of this Little Egret.

Little Egret

Lets hope the birding is on an upward trend. The Long-billed Dowitcher is a good year tick and although we did not see a Goshawk we came away with a couple of good sites to revisit and some ideas for Honey Buzzards later in the year. Watch this space.