Little Gull and Little Tern

With the small car park in Easton Lane now open, the Stilt Pools at Medmerry seem a little more accessible, but it can still be a bleak walk in when the cold south westerlies are coming in off the sea. Some days you get down there and there is just nothing to look at. Fortunately today was just the opposite. A nice sunny day and lots of birds. Photography is difficult, you are just that bit too far away from the action, but today there was certainly a lot to look at.

Perhaps the best bird of the day was an adult Little Gull. When I arrived it was asleep on the back of an island and I could well have missed it. So my thanks to Peter Hughes the warden for pointing it out. I had to wait a while for it to fly and then had about ten minutes of trying to photograph it before it moved on. Good practice for the Little Terns that were to come.

All I could see at first was just the one Little Tern out on the back of a sandy bar. Perhaps more came in or perhaps they had been better hidden hidden but eventually there were five or maybe six present.

I always forget just how small the Little Terns are. The picture below shows one alongside Black-headed Gulls which themselves are at the smaller end of the Gull family.

Small, fast, highly manoeuvrable, and a nightmare to try to photograph. You need a big lens on to get close enough for a picture but even if you can track them my lens will not focus fast enough to get the shot. The pictures below are not perfect but you should see the hundreds that have been deleted as unrecognisable

The islands look a bit short of the shingle that the Little Terns like for nesting but there is always a chance. They would at least get some protection here as the Avocets that nest at the site are very aggressive parents and see off a lot of the predators.

Also present were at least six Little Ringed Plovers. This pair look as though they are trying out nest sites.

There were a lot of other birds using the pools including a Common Sandpiper, and a brilliantly coloured Yellow Wagtail.

Common Sandpiper

Yellow Wagtail

Catching a fly -  at 1/2000 of a second and still not sharp

Also a lot of birds in the long grass around the pools.

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Skylark

Nice also to see some young about. This young Moorhen even looks halfway pretty.

Other shots taken this week. A Black Swan On Chichester Gravel Pits. They always take a nice picture. I wonder how long it will be before they are on the British list.

Tuesday it was back to Pulborough with Dave so that he could catch up with the Nightingales. He is just back from a weeks birding in Spain with stories and pictures of Bee Eaters, Collard Pratincoles, Squacco Heron, Gallinule, etc. etc. See his blog here for some good pictures but I think good old British Nightingales take some beating

 A great weeks birding so far. Spring seems to be on hold at the moment but that just means that when the cold weather stops we still have the spring migration to come - I hope.

Wryneck

I finally managed to catch up with the Church Norton Wryneck, although it was not very obliging and stayed deep in cover for most of the time that I watched it. I had missed them on the spring migration so this was a welcome year tick for me.

I had hoped for a better picture but after about five minutes the bird dropped into the long grass to feed and had not reappeared when I left an hour later

Wryneck

There seems to have been a shortage of small birds around the hide and cemetery areas at Church Norton of late but today restored my faith in the area with multiple sightings of Redstarts and Spotted Flycatchers and also this Green Woodpecker feeding in the field behind the hide.

Green Woodpecker

Green Woodpecker

The Spotted Flycatchers and Redstarts all seemed to favour the barbed wire and fencing for perching up. It's probably convenient for them but it tends to spoil the pictures.

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Redstart

I had a look at the North Wall but with the recent heavy rain the Breech Pool was again overfull and there were no waders there. I caught glimpses of a single Spotted Flycatcher and a Wheatear but could not get pictures of either. Fortunately the Swallows were obliging even if they were favouring the barbed wire again.

Swallow

The following pictures were taken in a brief very wet stopover in Norfolk earlier in the week. The trip was more memorable for the birds I missed than for those I saw. In particular I had Booted Warbler, Icterine Warbler and Wryneck reported on Gramborough Hill just one mile from where I was staying.

Gramborough Hill - Not a big area to search for three rarities

It was getting dark and raining heavily when we arrived but I was up early and on site before 0600 the next morning. Unfortunately the rain had cleared in the night and the birds had flown. The best I managed was this distant Garden Warbler.

Garden Warbler

Other pictures taken included this Little Stint enjoying the rain, a couple of Pied Flycatchers and a few of the regulars.

Little Stint

Meadow Pipit

Pied Flycatcher

Ruff

It had been a disappointing week but one good bird like the Wryneck makes all the difference. Bring on the rest of the migration

Mating Bloody-nosed Beetles

Well at least it's a title that I haven't used before.

I travelled around a few local sites today, looking for some of the birds that had been reported, but without much luck. The highpoint of the day were these two Bloody-nosed Beetles that I watched for about an hour. You have to admire his stamina, he didn't even take a break in that time. On the other hand the female didn't seem to notice he was there and just carried on walking for the whole time he was engaged.

Bloody-nosed Beetles

There were a lot more pictures but they don't really add much value. There was not a lot of variation in the action. The most interesting thing was the little pads on his feet that he uses to hang on. I must try to find out if they are suction or sticky.

Birds photographed were all at Old Lodge NR in Ashdown Forest. I managed to see five Redstars but I could not get a decent picture of any of them.

Male Redstart

A bit closer but a photograph of the wrong end

There were also Tree Pipits present enabling a comparison of  Meadow and Tree pipit.

Tree Pipit

Meadow Pipit

The usual Stonechats, although it was difficult to capture the contrasting black and white colours in the bright sunlight.

Stonechat

Woodlarks and plenty of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs.

Woodlark

Contrasting colours but I am assuming that both of these are Willow Warblers

A good days birding but with Hoopoe, Wryneck, Ring Ouzel, Greater Yellowlegs, and Bee-eater being reported I could have hoped for something more.