Great White Egret

We were down at Dungeness beach on Monday searching for Caspian Gulls. I have studied all the books and know how to identify juvenile Caspians but theory and practice are vastly different. The advantage of going to Dungeness was that it has two Polish colour ringed birds. So this was a case of spot the colour ring rather than spot the Caspo.

It didn't help. We started by searching the beach area and gull roosts around the fishing boats. Plenty of Herring Gulls, Greater Black-backed and Black-headed but no Caspians, or at least none that we could identify. The wind was fierce so we soon retired to the car and parked up so that we could scan the gulls in comfort. Still no luck. We found one ringed bird but that was a Herring Gull.The only consolation was that a couple of other birders were having the same problem.

In the end we dipped but we did have a brief stop at the ARC hide and had good views of a Great White Egret and Marsh Harrier.

Great White Egret, a superb looking bird sideways on.......

but a bit more comic looking head on.

Not too bad, but with a white bird it's always difficult to get the exposure right so that you can see the feather detail.


The Marsh Harrier gave some great flybys but was difficult to photograph against the sky. Fortunately he did one low pass with the water as a background.

 

Not the Caspos we were looking for but at least a couple of decent birds to photograph, so it wasn't a wasted day.

Common Crane

I haven't put a blog up for the past week or so. There have been plenty of birding opportunities  and I have seen some good birds but I am having one of those spells when you just don't seem to be able to take a decent picture.

Tuesday last week Dave and I made a return visit to Dungeness. I had managed to miss the White-winged Black Tern when we visited the previous week and with nothing else to chase we decided to give it another go. It was on the ARC pit and sitting on exactly the same island as the Black tern we had seen on the last visit.

It was not close enough for a good picture but there could be no doubt on the identification. It as lacking the dark breast patch evident on the Black Tern and as it flew off there was a clear view of the white rump.

White-winged Black Tern

with the all important white rump

This week I had planned a trip down to Slimbridge to see the Cranes and with a Glossy Ibis reported at Ham Wall it looked like an interesting if somewhat long trip. I should have gone Monday but when I got up at five o'clock the weather outside was awful and with the promise of better weather on the Tuesday I decided to put it off for a day. Tuesday and the weather was even worse but I decided to go anyway. Unfortunately so did the Ibis. It had been giving good views on the Monday but despite three hours of searching I could find no sign of it, nor has it been reported since. I will put that miss down to the BBC weather forecast yet again. All I managed to see at Ham Wall was a Marsh Harrier.

Marsh Harrier

Fortunately the Common Cranes were showing at Slimbridge. There were four visible in the fields to the north of the wetland centre although they were all some way off. At first I though that I would not be able to get a picture but the rain had cleared the air and when the sun came out I got a distant shot.

Common Cranes - 500mm lens 1.4 extender and 1.6 camera multiplier

A crop of the above shot

With these birds being barely visible to the naked eye I was quite pleased to walk away with this shot. Given the proportions of the two birds in the picture this looks as though it could be parent and fledgling. If so it is one of the first free born and free flying Common Cranes fledged in this country for 400 years. On the other hand it could just be a small adult!

For interest hear is a shot of one of the captive Common Cranes from inside the wetland centre.

Captive Common Crane

There was also a Kingfisher showing well from one of the hides. I didn't want to miss the cranes so I just grabbed a few quick shots with the intention of going back later. I did, but of course by then the Kingfisher had gone missing.

Finally I had a quick trip down to the Ferry Pool at Pagham Harbour this morning to see if the Grey Phalarope was still there. Most people were searching for the Pectoral Sandpiper but without any success. I was quite pleased that I had seen it when it first arrived at the North Wall (see here).

The Phalarope was there but as usual it was right at the back of the pool. It kept making a purposeful approach along the southern edge of the pool but every time it looked like coming into range of the camera it would fly back to the far corner. I managed a record shot, during one of the brief breaks in the rain, but it's not very good.

So some good birds but not many good pictures. Lets hope for a return to some sunny autumn weather next week.

White-winged Black Tern

I waited four days, telling myself that I could not justify the drive over to Rye just to see one bird, but in the end I had to go. My justification, to myself, was that I was sure to see something else whilst I was out and that would make it all worthwhile. Little could I have known that my second bird would be a Red-breasted Flycatcher giving me two life ticks in a day.

The Tern was easy enough to find. It was sitting on a mudbank just in front of the Castle Water hide. Birders using a telescope would call it showing well. Birders with a camera would call it not showing anywhere near well enough. No luck with it moving either, each time it was disturbed it went back to that same spot, just that little bit too far away.

White-winged Black Tern

Wing stretching

Eventually I followed it round to the western end of the water where it was feeding and  I spent a surprisingly enjoyable if somewhat frustrating hour or so trying to track it in flight and keep it in focus. The results were not brilliant but you can at least see the identifying features.

Much as it grieves me to promote someone else's work you need to take a look at John Standen's shots on flicker (click here) to see how it should have been done.

There were a lot of other good birds around Castle Water. A Ruff and a couple of Little Stint were showing well on the mud in front of the hide. A Marsh Harrier made  a couple of passes over the area putting most of the birds into the air. I managed to put up a flock of five Bearded Tits that then disappeared into the centre of the reed bed and there were Meadow Pipits and Wheatears on the fences around the reserve.

Marsh Harrier

Meadow Pipits

Wheatear

The light was starting to go so I took the long walk back to the car and was about to set off for home when Mick Davis turned up and tipped me off to the Red-breasted Flycatcher at Beachy Head. It was only a short detour off the route home and I had never seen one before so it was worth a look. It was in the old trapping area and again was surprisingly easy to find. Getting a clear view though, to confirm the sighting, was really difficult. It may have a white belly and red breast but in the thick cover it was using it was just another fast moving little brown job.

Red-breasted Flycatcher

When I eventually got a good view it turned out to be a really smart looking male. The pictures do not do it justice, they were taken on high ISO in the gathering gloom and light drizzle. I have already seen a couple of shots of it on the web that are streets ahead of mine.  If the sun shines tomorrow I may well be going back to give it another go.

A strange days birding. I have picked up two life ticks and I should be over the moon, but I'm not. It's photographing the birds that I really like doing. I've got the record shots but there is nothing here that I could class as good. It seems a long time since I last took a picture that I was really happy with.

Marsh Harrier

The weather looked good today so I picked Dave up and we headed off to Sheppey in North Kent. Our target was White-fronted Geese which we both needed as a year tick. They had also been reported at Rainham Marshes and Pett Level but with seventy two at Shellness it seemed the best option.

Seventy two and we only needed to see one. I'm sure you have already guessed. No White-fronted Geese at Shellness and in fact virtually no birds at all. Last time I was here it was wall to wall waders, this time all we saw was a couple of Pied Wagtails some Shellducks out on the mud and a few Meadow Pipits. Probably our fault though, the tide was way out and most of the birds with it.

We had a quick look around Elmly Nature Reserve, lots of birds but nothing unusual. There were a lot of geese there but they were a long way off and I only had the bins with me, so no chance of picking out the White-fronted.

It was looking like a disappointing day but we had Oare Marshes as our last stop and it always manages to produce some good picture opportunities.

Shoveler

The Marsh had been flooded by the recent tidal surge and the water level was too high for the waders in the main scrape. Most of the birds were in the waterlogged marsh making the most of a new feeding area.

Ruff

More Ruff

We also had a squealing Water Rail that came out in the open. Although they are usually skulking in the reeds they are not a shy bird. When their territory is flooded they seem quite happy to come out into the open looking for food and they always seem to be more concerned about Moorhens and other Water Rails than they do about people.

There should be a really nice picture of a Water Rail at this point but I completely blew it, all my pictures were blurred beyond recovery. Much as it pains me you will have to see Dave's blog "Friends of Groyne No 4" if you want to see the Water Rail.

Still a bit of a disappointing day but then as we were thinking of heading home all the birds took to the air as a female Marsh Harrier flew over the site.

Marsh Harrier

An impressive predator

The local crows were not as impressed as I was and were soon in the air to mob it. It's only when you see it alongside the crow that you realise how small it actually is.

It looked so powerful in the pictures above

Evenly matched in the air but the crows have better team work

With the light fading there was just time for a picture of a Lapwing, another of the bird I tend to take for granted. Not only is it one of the best birds to watch in flight but there are very few birds that can match it for colour.

Lapwing in the sunset - how does it stay so clean in all that mud

No white-fronted Geese but we had a good days birding and came away with some good pictures.

Little Tern

Being determined to catch up with a Little Tern I had another trip over to Rye Harbour. This time I was more successful, although I didn't quite get the crystal clear image I had envisaged of the male Little Tern passing a fish to the female. At about 100 metres distance and barely visible through the binoculars this falls more into the Kitsonian school of photography than the style I had been looking for. Still I follow the mantra of

 - see the bird
 - get a record shot
 - get a quality picture

To you this may look a rubbish picture but at the moment it takes pride of place in my collection and gives me a life tick. Just a pity that it doesn't look quite as good as the shots of the decoys that I had in a previous blog, but it will do until I can get a better picture.

best kept as a small image!

(Apologies to those that don't get the Kitsonian reference and no disrespect is intended to a birder who has more knowledge than than I will ever get in my lifetime).

Rye Harbour held the expected Common and Sandwich Terns along with Black Headed and Mediterranean Gulls. There were also Dunlin, Godwits, Wheatear, and lots of Avocets although I missed the two Knot that were reported later that day.

Avocet

I had then planned to return via Pett Levels but after being told of a Redstart showing well at Dungeness Power Station I headed off there instead. Bad mistake, I could not find the Redstart and others that went to Pett Levels did get to see a Turtle Dove which was the next target bird on my list. However, there was consolation in a Marsh Harrier over the ARC pit.

Marsh Harrier

Would have been a great picture if the bird had a head!

Out again around Arlington Reservoir the next day, with Dave who seems to be getting fed up with being at home ill. Either that or he is not happy that my year list is now longer than his. We were looking for the Turtle Dove and we did have a possible sighting but we could not relocate the birds so this will have to wait for another day.

We spent most of the day with Dave happily photographing his Orchids and insects and with me thinking that I need to invest in a decent Macro lens. I think I will keep the Dragonfly and Butterfly shots for a separate blog but I was pleased with one in flight shot and it gives me hope of capturing some of the more difficult Dragonflies that never seem to settle.

Beautiful Demoiselle in flight

Nothing very exciting on the birding front but nice views of a Collared Dove and the much under rated Dunnock.

Collared Dove

Dunnock

One of the highlights of the day came whilst we were having a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea. We had been watching a Mistle Thrush gathering food and taking it to a nearby nest. All was going well until a Jay strayed a bit to close. A couple of very aggressive parents soon saw it off. It was all too fast for me to get a picture but here is a more peaceful shot of one of the birds.

Mistle Thrush gathering food

Smew, Bittern, and Marsh Harrier

This looked like a good start to the day. Two drake Smew, five redheads, and a Bittern sitting in the reeds behind them.

Taken from the ARC hide Dungeness

It being a crisp, bright, and sunlit winters day we had driven down to Dungeness in the hope of just such pictures. If only I could have gotten a bit closer, but there was a lot of water between them and me and they had no intention of coming over to give me better views.

Drake Smew - a long way off

Showing off to the ladies

And "too distant for a good picture" turned out to be the theme for the day.

Bittern flying - too distant

Marsh Harrier flying - too distant

Another Marsh Harrier - too distant

Avocet - too distant (at Rye Harbour)

We had a good day and saw a lot of birds including the scarce Smew. In fact this was my first sight of a Drake Smew in the wild. Overall though, it was disappointing to have returned home without a couple of really good pictures. Sometimes it just doesn't happen for you.