Crested Tits

Being the second part of my blog about our week in Scotland, this part is focused more on the smaller birds and as always the number one target was the Crested Tit. This was a new location for us, a bit less busy than Loch Garten, and with the added advantage of Red Squirrels and a good supporting cast of other birds. The only disadvantage was that it was difficult to spot the birds as they flew in, so most of the shots are taken on the feeders.

Other birds at the site included Goldcrests, with the unusual sight of one using the fat ball feeders, Coal Tits, Yellowhammers, Siskin, Long-tailed Tits, Robins and an army of Chaffinches.

Coal Tit

Goldcrest

Just amazed that the bill is still sharp - reminds me of a Humming Bird

Yellowhammer

and of course one of the Red Squirrels

We found Twite at at Netherton Farm at the south end of Findhorn Bay. There were about sixty birds in the flock including a few Linnets but they were very mobile and difficult to photograph. The shot below shows the yellow bill of the Twite.

Twite

There were a number of Glaucous and Iceland Gulls being reported in the area. We spent a bit of time scanning the Hopeman Pig Farm seeing first and third winter Iceland Gulls. Unfortunately the third winter flew just as we found it so the pictures below are of the first winter bird.

Iceland Gull

Iceland Gull

Other birds seen are shown below.

A Goosander flying up the River Lossie

Pink-footed Geese running for cover at the first sign of a camera

A Red-legged Partridge in the early morning sun.

There was a distinct shortage of waders at all sites that we visited but we did find a flock of around a hundred and fifty Knot at Burgh Head. These are a particularly annoying bird to try to photograph. There are too many of them to be able to get a shot of a single bird and the flocks are too big to be able to get the whole lot into the frame. The best thing is just to sit back and enjoy the spectacle of the flocks movement.

Knot - part of the flock - perhaps a collective noun of a confusion is appropriate

And finally on the way home we called in at the Northumberland Wildlife Trusts Cresswell Ponds. We had tried it on the way up looking for the Long-billed Dowitcher but were short of time so left without finding it. This time local birders put us onto it and we also saw Snipe and a Water Rail so a good end to the holiday.

Record shot of the Long-billed Dowitcher at Cresswell Ponds

It's a pity a that a lot of these shots are of birds on feeders, I usually try to avoid that, and also that many of the birds photographed have been ringed, but then beggars can't be choosers, it was that or no pictures at all.

Long-billed Dowitcher

Today it really felt as though Spring had arrived. We were off down to Pennington to look for the Long-billed Dowitcher. It wasn't exactly warm but the sun was shinning, the sky was blue, and there was no wind, and for the first time this year the birds seemed to be out singing and marking out their territories.

On the walk down to the lagoons from the car park we had Linnets, that I didn't manage to photograph, a Reed Bunting and even a Wren happy too be sitting out in the open singing.

Reed Bunting

Wren

Waders were in short supply, as they have been for most of this Winter, but the comparison of this Spotted Redshank and Redshank made an interesting picture.

Spotted Redshank and Redshank

Spotted Redshank

A search for the Long-billed Dowitcher found it sleeping in the reeds along side three Snipe. It looked promising when we first spotted it but it wasn't until it raised its head and revealed the bill that we could be sure.

Long-billed Dowitcher and three Snipe

We watched it for a while and it was beginning to look as though it would not leave the cover of the reeds. Luckily a low flying Lapwing spooked the Snipe and the Dowitcher took to the air with them. I would normally have expect it to head deeper into cover.

The flight shot gives a good view of the white cigar shape on its back.

Long-billed Dowitcher - showing cigar shaped white mark on its back

The bird did not travel far and was soon heading back to its favoured resting place in the reeds

Long-billed Dowitcher

With the shot below showing the greenish/yellow legs and truncated bill with slightly down turned end.

and heading back to the reeds

Next stop was at Mark Ash wood in the New Forest but our usually reliable Tawny Owl seems to have moved on and our quick search for a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker revealed no sighting and no sound of drumming. Perhaps still a little too early in the year and certainly a little late in the day.

Next stop was Eyeworth Pond at Fritham. The small birds are always easy to photograph here  as they are very tame and use to visitors providing them with food. The only difficulty is getting a decent shot of the bird without piles of seeds getting in the way.

There are usually Mandarins on display although they tend to stay on the far side and shelter under the trees but the bonus on this visit were four Goosanders, three male and one female.

Goosander

Goosander and Mandarin Duck

Goosander and Mandarin Duck

Mandarins escorting the female.

We had great fun watching and photographing these and there were a number of flight shots that nearly made the grade but in the end were all consigned to the bin. It is amazing how different the male Mandarin looks in flight.

Then it was back to the feeding station and a few shots of the more common birds.

Great Tit

Great Tit

Marsh Tit

Marsh Tit

Nuthatch

A great days birding with, for a change, some decent lighting for the photography.

Long-billed Dowitcher

A trip down to Keyhaven Marshes last week had ended up in failure. We had spent about four hours walking the sea walls, surveying the various pools and looking for the Long-billed Dowitcher and had come away without seeing it. Reports later that evening indicated that it had shown a few minutes after we left. The day was only memorable for the cold wind that cut across the marshes for the whole time we watched.

I had no intention of going back but today when Dave suggested a return visit I leapt at the chance. Bad experience or not the Long-billed Dowitcher is a bird worth seeing and on top of that I needed it for a year tick.

We thought we had spotted it, on the back of Fishtail Lagoon, whilst walking from the Lower Pennington Lane car park down to the sea wall. It was difficult to make the identification and also disappointing as the bird was too far away for a photograph. Fortunately there was a tractor complete with hedge trimming attachment parked at the top of the field. When it started its engine up again all the birds were flushed down towards the front of the lagoon. We just had to find it again.

It wasn't too difficult. The bird had settled on an island towards the front of the lagoon and was showing well.

There had been another Long-billed Dowitcher on the Keyhaven Marshes a couple of years ago but that had been a real skulking bird that had been very hard to find and difficult to photograph. It spent most of its time in the reeds well away from the bird watchers.

This bird seemed the complete opposite. It had taken two visits to find it but now it was showing well, preening and feeding in the shallow waters.

My first hundred or so shots were all wasted. Good record shots but we were too far away to get any detail.  Dropping down off the sea wall onto the footpath at the front of the lagoon just got us that little bit closer and gave the sort of detail we were looking for.

We had moved slowly and the bird did not seem at all concerned by our closer approach. We did lose it into the reeds for a few minutes when a large group of noisy walkers went past on the sea wall. When they eventually moved away the bird quickly reappeared. It seems to be in the nature of the bird to run for cover in the reeds when disturbed rather than to fly away.

Twelve thirty and we were all finished. A great mornings birding and some great pictures in the bag.

Perhaps my only disappointment was the Black-tailed Godwit below. It seemed quite happy to sit only a few metres away but there was no way it was going to oblige by showing its bill.

We called in at Farlington Marsh on the way home to see if we could improve on our Bearded Tit shots but the wind was causing a lot of movement in the reeds and if the Bearded Tits were there they were staying well down in cover.

Dave and I are out birding together two or three times a week so I often end up publish a blog, like today's, that looks very similar to his. Sometimes we go our own ways so they are different and some times I have a complete disaster and there is no blog. Last week we went up on to Cissbury Ring to look for Ring Ouzels. I got a few shots. They weren't that good but I was happily preparing my blog, that is, until Dave published his and all his pictures were better than anything I had taken.

A quick rethink and I dumped the lot so there was no blog on the Ring Ouzel. The plan was to go back and get some better pictures, or if I was lucky, to get some pictures that were better than Dave's. I did see them again but they were not easy to photograph. Here is a shot just to record the fact that I have seen them but I am still hoping for something better before they disappear for another year.

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.

Lesser Yellowlegs & Long-billed Dowitcher

I came away from our last trip to Lepe Country Park happy that I had seen a Lesser Yellowlegs and happy that I had a record shot to prove it. It was a good result after the four failed attempts at the Cliffe Pools bird. However, the record shot was heavily cropped and there was scope for improvement

Looking at the map of the Dark Water area I estimate that it was taken from a distance of over 200 metres so I was lucky to get anything recognisable on the shot. The challenge was to get closer to the bird and with recent report putting it back on the Stansore Point pool the opportunity was there. So this morning Dave and I headed off into Hampshire once again.

It took a while to locate the bird. It was on the back of the pool and out of sight for most of the time so we had a long wait in the biting cold wind. Fortunately there were plenty of small birds around to practice on whilst we waited. My favourite being the Dunnock.

Dunnock

Eventually the bird relocated towards the front of the pool, a distance of about 60 metres. Still not ideal but at least we could get some better shots.

Lesser Yellowlegs

We waited to see if it would come closer but instead it took off and disappeared over the back of the pool. It was getting colder so we decided to relocate ourselves and went off to find the local cafe and a cup of hot tea.

Next stop was Pennington Marsh where I was hoping to improve on my pictures of the Long-billed Dowitcher. Another long wait in the cold wind but eventually we found it on the back of the Jetty Pool. I will spare you most of the pictures. It a shy bird and its nature is to stay well hidden in the reeds and today this one was living up to its reputation.

Long-billed Dowitcher in hiding

I would have liked to have got better pictures but you can't win every time. We were lucky. How often is it that you get see two rare American vagrants in one day?