Pectoral Sandpiper

I seem to have spent a lot of time over the past week standing around waiting for birds to turn up. I went to see the Ortolan Bunting on Sunday morning. Stood around with a few other guys for about three hours waiting for it to show and eventually went home disappointed. Should have gone on Saturday, it would have been a life tick as well.

Today I went to Farlington Marsh to see the Pectoral Sandpiper. The Bluethroat reported there last night would also have been nice but given the strength of the winds it was unlikely that any small birds would be showing in the open. No point in wasting any time looking for it, so instead I wasted four hours trying to find the Pec Sand.

Got it eventually and even got a couple of pictures but why is it that when you find anything good, you usually end up with trying to take a brown bird against a brown background with backlighting and glare off the water.

Still, at least I did get to see it.

Pectoral Sandpiper

The bird showed quite well, if a bit distant, but unfortunately looked to be injured and was avoiding putting weight on one of its legs.

Pectoral Sandpiper

A few other pictures from the past week. A Corn Bunting from up on Chantry Hill, one of a large foraging flock.

Corn Bunting

and a scraggy looking Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

We kept a look out for Honey Buzzards but they were all commons.

Common Buzzard

The North Wall at Pagham had a few good birds but again all a bit distant. There have been about a dozen Cattle Egrets around the area but it was unusual to see this one at the back of the Breech Pool along with a couple of Little Egrets.

and the Spoonbill roosting on the island along with the Little Egrets and Herons

Spoonbill

Also a Sparrowhawk making a couple of passes over the Breech Pool and causing panic amongst the waders feeding there.

Sparrowhawk

Willow Warbler

The Pectoral Sandpiper brings up my 200 for the year. Still a bit down on previous years but then I am still missing a few of the more common birds, Water Rail, Firecrest, Black Redstart. Must have been going around with my eyes closed. Also a big gap this year from not having an early spring Scotland trip.

Pectoral Sandpiper

The birding and bird photography always seems to go through a bad spell when I come home from a trip abroad. You move from seeing new and unusual birds every day back to seeing all the home front supporting cast with just the occasional bird that raises the interest levels. Except, this past month, Sussex seems to be devoid of anything really interesting. Even regular trips up onto Cissbury Ring have failed to see me connect with the usually reliable Ring Ouzels up there.

I have been out and I have seen lots of birds but it seems as though, most days, I come home without bothering to take a single picture and it has been six weeks since I did my last blog post.

A trip to Pulborough today to see the Pectoral Sandpiper has motivated me to start blogging again. The pictures were not good, the Pec Sand stayed at the back of the pool and a distant brown bird against a brown background is not the easiest of subjects but hey, it was enough to get me going again.

Pectoral Sandpiper

The bird was to be found in front of the West Mead hide, on the mud at the back right hand corner of the pool. I watched it for about an hour and went back later in the morning for another go but it seemed to be faithful to this area and was not going to give a better picture opportunity.

Pectoral Sandpiper

There wasn't a great deal more to look at around Pulborough. Duck numbers were stating to build on the West Mead pool but the North Brooks were mostly empty of birds, with some major re-profiling work going on there.

Shoveler

Wigeon

Needing some more content for the blog I then looked back over the pictures I had taken over the past few weeks. Nothing special but not quiet as bad as I had remembered.

Black-tailed Godwit at Pagham North Wall

Chiffchaff at Brooklands Park

Common Sandpiper  in the Ferry Channel

Looking for somewhere sheltered to roost

Distant Spoonbills at Pagham North Wall

Wheatear  - Pagham North Wall

Wheatear - Pagham North Wall

Migration now seems to be well underway and the bird numbers are picking up. The clear, cold and crisp day of winter may be few and far between but they are by far the best for taking photographs. All we need now are some good birds.

Pectoral Sandpiper and Grey Phalarope

I did a few jobs around the house and then with the sun shining outside I thought I would make a return trip to the Ferry Pool to see if I could improve on yesterdays picture of the Grey Phalarope. As I arrived I could see a group of people standing by the road and pointing there scopes and cameras down into the reeds. It all looked very promising.

I parked the car and crossed the road to what must be my least favourite birding spot. You stand on a path no more than three foot wide, with a low metal railing and the pool below on one side and on the other the cars, HGVs and buses thundering past. The strange thing is that the birds don't seem to be fazed by all the movement and noise.

The Phalarope and the Pectoral Sandpiper were feeding in the reeds no more than twenty feet from the traffic and less than that from the assembled birders. They didn't even seem to be upset by the occasional, more mentally challenged, members of the Selsey community that feel obliged to go by sounding their horns. I am not sure if they hope to scare the birds away or perhaps just to frighten one of the birders into jumping into the pool.

So, the birds were close and the sun shining, I should have superb pictures. Nearly, but not quite, I should have done better. I would have prefer diffuse sunlight, the angle of the sun was wrong, I was photographing down onto the birds, it was difficult to get a clear shot through the reeds, and the reeds were casting shadows over the birds. I could probably think of a few more excuses as well.

So here we go with the Pec Sand first. Fortunately you don't have to look at all the ones that didn't make the grade.

and the Grey Phalarope. I think this one spotted me hiding behind all the scopes and objected to having its photograph taken, so I only got a few shots before it flew off to the back of the pool.

This was a really beautiful bird. I think I will have to go back and have another go at this one.

Pectoral Sandpiper

The weather was best in the west today so we headed for Pagham Harbour with the first stop being the North Wall. It was great to see the Breech Pool back to normal with a good mix of water and mud and with plenty of birds in evidence. I am surprised that it has recovered so quickly given the repeated drying out and flooding it received during the early part of the year.

With shallows and mud available many of the waders have returned along with the wildfowl, a few geese and various warblers in the reed beds. The insects are also thriving and there was a mixed flock of Hirundines hawking over the pools.

The birds were there but the weather did not deliver. It was overcast all morning. There were some great birds on show but the resulting photographs are poor.

Godwits, Redshanks and Greenshanks in White's Creek

We were told to look out for a Little Stint and when a suitable small bird turned up we were happily clicking away. It was only later that we realised that it was a Pectoral Sandpiper, but that is the beauty of getting a photograph, you can always check it out when you get home.

Pectoral Sandpiper

The Sandpiper was joined by a juvenile Ruff and we would have had some excellent pictures but without the light you cannot get the colours and detail into the pictures and they end up looking flat.

Pectoral Sandpiper(front) and Ruff (rear)

Ruff

We did check out other areas around the harbour but it all seemed very quiet. The following are all pictures taken in the North Wall area

Black-tailed Godwit

Reed Warbler

Whitethroat - taken during a brief improvement in the light conditions

The Pectoral Sandpiper was a great bird to see, even if we had difficulty identifying it, but overall the day was a bit disappointing. I like to spend the evening sorting out my shots and producing the blog. Tonight I spent my time trying to rescue a few record shots from amongst all the pictures taken today.

Pectoral Sandpiper but mostly Butterflies

It looked like a Pectoral Sandpiper through the telescope, all the experts in the hide said it was a Pectoral Sandpiper, ergo, it probably was a Pectoral Sandpiper. So why am I unhappy. The answer - because I could not get a good picture, that convinced me 100% when I got home, that I had the identification right.

Pectoral Sandpiper - Pulborough Brooks

Pectoral Sandpiper

Both shots have huge crops and over sharpening and are at the limits of the cameras capabilities. They are also very similar to those that I managed to capture the last time I saw a  Pectoral Sandpiper. Looking at Collins I have; slightly de-curved bill, good demarcation between breast and belly with breast markings coming to a point, one side of white V on its back, neat scaly pattern on upper part feathers. I also have a pale based bill on another equally obscure shot.

I guess the confidence levels are better than 95% so I will probably count it.

Water levels were low around the reserve. Birds are starting to return but they need more rain and plenty of mud.

After seeing a report last week of Emerald Damselflies, Black Darters and Brown Hawkers on Black Pond I decided to have a look. What a difference a week makes. None of them there that I could see, but there were Emperors, Broad-bodied Chasers and Ruddy Darters present.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Ruddy Darter

The pond was drying up, but there were still four Emperors managing to patrol what looked like very small territories and without too much conflict. Even with it being easier to predict where they would be flying I still failed to get a decent picture of any of them and they seemed reluctant to move away from the pond to settle.

There were plenty of butterflies around Pulborough but I wanted to check out Houghton Forest and I thought it might be a bit cooler under the trees. I was also hoping to see a Purple Emperor which had been reported there.

Houghton did not disappoint, except for the Purple Emperor, with Small, Large, and Green-veined Whites, Silver Washed Fritillary, Comma, Peacock, Red Admirals, Brimstones and various Blues. I was feeling quite pleased and was even more so when I got home and found both Peacocks and a Painted Lady on the Lavender in the garden.

Comma

Large White

Silver-washed Fritillary

Silver-washed Fritillary

Common Blue on Birds-foot Trefoil

Brimstone

Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Peacock

Peacock