Greenshank and Green Sandpiper

 

A trip along the coast to Pagham Harbour and Medmerry delivered some good birds. Pride of place goes to the Greenshank, always the most elegant of birds. This one on the Stilt Pool.

There were also Avocets on the pool and a Black Redstart on the rocks at the breech, neither of which were within camera range. Fortunately there were also three Black Redstarts by the windmill on the eastern side of the breech. Also, just inside the breech, a Purple Sandpiper on the shore with a flock of Ringed Plover . Good scope views but again too far away for a picture.

Moving round to Selsey the Green Sandpiper was showing well in the roadside pool close to the Ferry Pool......

......with a Spotted Redshank in the Ferry Channel.

Not many smaller birds around, just brief sightings of a couple of Dartford Warblers and a Cetti's heard but not seen. The usual birds around the feeders at the RSPB visitors Centre and another Long-tailed Tit posing for its picture to be taken.

Green Sandpiper

and a lesson in bird identification


There has not been much happening on the birding front for a few weeks but I did take a quick walk around Pulborough Brooks last Friday, to have a look at the Green Sandpipers being reported there. I think it was seven reported but I could only find three and the views, from the Little Hanger hide, were a bit distant.

I didn't take much notice at the time. You tend to see what you are looking for and it was only when I  checked the pictures today that I realised that one of the birds looked different.  The white underwing was the key feature that made me take a second look. For a Green Sandpiper it should be a dark underwing.

My first thought was Wood Sandpiper. I could see fine baring on the tail, the upperparts where a lighter brown than the Green Sandpiper and there was no sharp cut off between the barring on the breast and the whiter underbelly. I wasn't totally convinced as I would have expected a much stronger supercillium on a Wood Sandpiper but I couldn't see what else it could be.

Even some of the experts I asked for advice where confused but it turns out that it's a juvenile Redshank. It seems obvious now but at the time Redshank wasn't even considered as an option, as it doesn't have red legs and it didn't look like a juvenile bird.

Juvenile Redshank

Juvenile Redshank  - white underwing and fine tail barring

For comparison here are shots of one of the Green Sandpipers showing a dark underwing and broad bars on the tail.

Green Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper -  showing dark underwing and broad bars on the tail

A good result in the end but it just shows the value of taking a few plumage shots and also the risks of only seeing what you are looking for.

I felt a bit stupid over getting it wrong but we all have to learn and I won't be making the same mistake again.

NB  13th July - It was interesting to see that someone had the same problem today. Portland Bird       Observatory had to issue a tweet saying  - "Contra reports on the national services there isn't a Wood Sand at Ferrybridge - it's a juvenile Redshank". Nice to know that I am not alone.

Silver-spotted Skipper

The weather forecast for the rest of the week was not looking good, so the chance of a few hours out this morning, before the rain was due to set in, was too good to miss. Butterflies have been the main theme over the past few weeks and today was no different. The target was the Silver-spotted Skipper and the best place to find them, for us, is on Newtimber Hill, just to the east of Devils Dyke.

It was a cool morning but there was just enough warmth to get a few butterflies moving. Unfortunately most of those were Meadow Browns. The Silver-spots are a butterfly of the hot summer months and today obviously did not suit them, they were mostly staying hidden in the long grass. 

Silver-spotted Skipper

We did eventually get a few picture opportunities where they had crawled out onto flower heads to warm up their wings or to nectar but it took a lot of searching.

There were also a few Chalkhill Blues flying. These were much more obliging and were happy to sit out on flower stems to have their pictures taken.

Chalkhill Blue

I assume that the two females shown below are Chalkhill Blues but it is very difficult to tell them from female Adonis Blue. You really need to see the upper side of their wings.

The following are a few pictures from last Friday. I had stopped off at Pulborough Brooks RSPB to stock up on birdfood and with an hour to spare I had time for a quick trip around the hides.

Small Copper

There was very little showing. One Small Copper, just a hint of Hairstreaks high in a couple of the Oak and Ash trees, one distant Common Sandpiper, and best of all a Green Sandpiper close to Winpenny Hide.

Green Sandpiper

It is really nice to get a picture of a bird on the blog again. They have been in short supply of late. It is a good reminder that the summer doldrums are coming to an end and that the birds will soon be on the move.

Garden Warbler

I woke up this morning to what looked like a thick sea mist. I live close to the coast so there was always the hope that by the time I got to the top of the road I would be back in sunshine. No such luck this time and when I got to Pulborough Brooks I found myself sitting in a hide looking out at a bank of colourless grey fog.

It's probably appropriate then, that the first bird that appeared was a Grey Heron. The shots of the Heron below are far better than I saw on the day, its amazing what you can do in Photoshop to recover a picture.

Why does it look surprised? Well it had strayed too close to a Lapwings nest and it was under attack.

Look out

a warning pass

Followed by an exhibition of high speed precision flying -
a few inches lower and it would be impaled on the Heron's bill

Still defiant but moving away

and the Lapwing still intent on protecting it's territory

I was surprised that the Heron made no attempt to use its bill to defend itself. I would have thought that a quick stab would have brought the Lapwing down. But then I am thinking like a human and not like a bird. These territorial disputes probably have an etiquette that ensures that neither party gets injured.

With the fog gradually lifting I went to have a look at the Nightingales. An hour listening and watching these raised the spirits but did not give me many picture opportunities. They seem to have an uncanny ability to always perch with small branches in front of them.

In full song

From a distance the North Brooks did not look very promising but I decided to walk round to Nettley's Hide for a closer look. I am glad I did. There were distant views of a couple of Greenshanks and also a Green Sandpiper.

Greenshanks

Green Sandpiper

Linnets, Sedge Warblers, and Whitethroats were also showing well in front of the hide.

Linnet

Sedge Warbler

Whitethroat

The best find of the day, for me, was a Garden Warbler. This is a bird that always gives me problems but this time I managed to locate it from its song.

Garden Warbler

Sometimes you can walk around Pulborough Brooks and not see anything but today it was well worth the effort.

In the afternoon I went down to Selsey, mainly to look for the Sandpipers that have been reported on the Ferry Pool. There were none there on the way through but on returning later I found a Common at the back of the pool, a first for me this year.

I found the local Kestrel on the ground in the pumping station and in the process of devouring what ever it had caught. I grabbed my camera but I was stuck on the wrong side of the road, unable to cross because of the amount of traffic going by. I had to settle for a flight shot later.

Kestrel

A visit to the North Wall was equally disappointing. Last week it was flooded, this week it has the lowest water levels I have ever seen. Whoever controls the sluice gates seems to be doing their best to destroy the habitat.

Little Ringed Plover on the drying up bed of the Breech Pool. It should be under a couple of feet of water.

A great day out spoilt by what seems to be the wanton destruction of one of my favourite birding spots.

Franklin's Gull

For me, Friday of last week was not a good birding day. We had travelled down to Blashford Lakes to see the Franklin's Gull. It was there and was easy to see, albeit after a long wait and hours of searching the thousands of gulls coming in to roost. Easy that is for everyone in the hide except me. I just could not get onto it. Even looking through Dave's scope which was centred on the bird I could not see anything that I could recognise as the Franklin's. I think by then I was just brain dead from staring at gulls.

There were distant views of Goosanders, Egyptian Geese, Ruddy Duck, and Black-necked Grebe but my only pictures for the day were of a Little Grebe and a Coot doing its leg stretching exercises. Going home in the car Dave was doing his best not to sound too happy whilst I tried to come to terms with my total failure.

Little Grebe

Coot

At first I was a bit negative about going back for another try but Dave convinced me that I should give it another go and volunteered to come along with me to ensure that I did not dip it for a second time.

We did a bit of birding around the New Forest before heading to Blashford. It was all very quiet. We followed a Chaffinch flock for a while in the hope of seeing a Brambling but there was nothing we could be confident about. We also managed to catch up with an old friend that we had last photographed back in February.

Tawny Owl

On arrival at Blashford we found that the Tern Hide that we planned to use was to be shut between 3.30 an 4.30 for a gull roost event. The Goosander Hide had also been closed by the police as a result of an incident. This only left us with the Lapwing Hide. You get good views out over the lake from there but by 3.30 when the gulls would be arriving you are staring straight into the sun. Still we had no choice so Lapwing Hide it was.

We settled down to an afternoons gull watching with a couple of Green and one Common Sandpiper thrown in for a bit of variety.

Green Sandpiper

The only other item of note was a flock of thirty eight Herons that came in to roost late afternoon. This was the first time I had seen them in a large flock. Other than that it was a long afternoon and by the time the sun started to set at 4.15 no one in the hide had spotted the Franklin's. Then we had a call from the Tern Hide to say that it had been spotted and that it was close to us. It turned out to be directly in the path of the setting sun but as it dipped below the horizon we had a few minutes of light left and everyone in the hide, including me this time, managed to get good views.

I had already lost sight of the bird in the gathering gloom when I decided that I should try to get a picture of it. By then I could not see where it was so I just pointed in the general direction, wound up the ISO, fired off a few shots and hoped for the best. They are not brilliant but these are my record shots of the bird.

 Just a few of the gulls on the lake with the Franklin's arrowed

Heavy cropping but the white eye rings and darker mantle are just visible.

And, to finish off the day, we had a starling murmuration swirling over our heads as we walked back to the car.

Glossy Ibis

Out birding with Dave again yesterday. Great day, we managed to see sixty nine species and hear another three. However, on target birds we were not so lucky. We got to see the Glossy Ibis at Bickerley Common but missed out on the Great White Egret and also on the Hawfinches we tried for on the way home at Eastleigh Lakeside Country Park.

Distant shot of the Glossy Ibis in the early morning sun

This is an improvement on my previous record shots of the Ibis but I still have not managed to get close enough for a decent picture.

Most of the day was taken up with gathering year ticks (+19) and on trying to improve on my picture library. Nothing spectacular taken but there were a few pictures worth keeping.

Black-tailed Godwit

Green Sandpiper

Marsh Tit

And not forgetting the more common birds

Robin

Siskin

House Sparrow

It was cold but it was a beautiful day with birding from sunrise on the Hampshire Dorset border to sunset where we watched twenty four Bewicks settling down to roost for the night.