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.

Ring Ouzel

Ring Ouzels were the target of the day. We usually see them in the autumn on their way south, but one had been reported in a paddock field in Warners Lane Selsey and it had been there for eight days. Of course when we got there on the ninth day it had moved on but the field was still interesting with half a dozen Wheatears, two female and one male Redstarts, and assorted other small birds. The male Redstart looked really smart but he would not come close enough for a photograph. Fortunately one of the females was more obliging.

Female Redstart

There must have been a big fall of Wheatears overnight as we found them wherever we went on the peninsular including the unusual sight of eight sitting in a tree in Rectory Lane.

Wheatear

A walk up the west side of Pagham Harbour from Church Norton towards the Visitors Centre gave us plenty of views of Linnets, Whitethroats, and probably a Lesser Whitethroat, although we could not really get a satisfactory view of the latter.

Linnet

Then we managed to get onto another Ring Ouzel, this one a male with a bright white breast band. We watched it for a while but found it difficult to get a decent picture.

Ring Ouzel

We were then joined by Dave Smith, Bernie Ford, and Dorian Mason, and they spotted a second Ring Ouzel close by. We ended up with two in the same tree, but I was a bit slow and missed that picture. When we were left on our own we decided to stake out its favourite perch and wait for a better picture opportunity. All looked good, it was gradually coming closer......

.......and then a Magpie took exception to its presence and chased it off. Perhaps the similar black and white colouration led the Magpie to see it as a threat.

There goes my picture opportunity

Magpies have never been my favourite bird. They have now becoming public enemy number one.

We were also fortunate enough to get a flyby from a Cuckoo that we had been hearing in the distance for about an hour. I did manage to get a record shot but you would have to be a good birder to recognise it as a Cuckoo from the silhouette that I ended up with.

Pheasant - there are so many about that I thought I should include a picture.

We then headed round to the north wall. The water was very high in the Breech Pool so there was nothing much to see there but further along the path we saw Dave Shepherd who had another Cuckoo in his scope although this one was strangely quiet.

A couple of weeks ago we had photographed a Little Grebe sitting on a nest. Dave told us that she had hatched three chicks so we went along to have a look. Sad to say there only seemed to be one left, but it seemed happy tucked up under her wings.

Little Grebe on nest  - taken a couple of weeks ago

Safely under mum's wings

Happy that is until she started diving for food. He survived a couple of dips but then ended up floating on the surface whilst she searched for food below. He looked very vulnerable on his own, you can see why the survival rate is low.

Looking a bit lost

Mum's Back with food

When last seen she was back on the nest with the chick scrabbling to get back under the safety of her wings.

We also had a lot of Whimbrels past and I had a lesson from the others on what to listen for to be able to tell Whimbrel from Curlew as they fly over.

Then to finish of the day there was a Whinchat in the Horse Paddock at the end of the wall. It was a great looking bird but it just wouldn't come any closer and I only ended up with a record shot. So not the perfect end to a perfect day but pretty close.

Whinchat

Kestrel

Ring Ouzels have caused me a great deal of wasted time this year with my only sighting being a brief glimpse as one was spooked from the Cissbury Yew by a Sparrow Hawk.

I was not going out today. For me Saturday is not a birding day, but I was keeping an eye on the birding reports. Ring Ouzels were everywhere - Blackdown, Sheepcote, Pagham, Portslade, then 200+ at Hastings and 400 at Beachy Head. Then one reported at Cissbury. There were sure to be more. A chance for good views and a photograph. It was late afternoon but I had to go.

You guessed it. A walk around the ring and visits to the Rifle Butts gave me nothing. The only option was to spend more time standing in front of the Yew tree waiting for another brief glimpse. And that's exactly what happened. An hours wait, a flash of silvery grey as something crashed into the Yew tree and then the contented calls of a Ring Ouzel from deep within the tree. Dipped it yet again!

Fortunately there is an almost tame juvenile female Kestrel on the Ring. It seems totally indifferent to the presence of people although the dogs do cause it to move on. Standing in the middle of the patch that it was hunting over I was able to get some great photographs before the light faded.

This shot taken at 1/160 sec showing how the Kestrel can hold its head and eye steady, to aid hunting,
 despite the rapid wing movements.

Not what I was looking for but at least something worth photographing. The Ring Ouzels will have to wait for another day. The trouble is that the weather forecast for next week does not look that good and I am starting to run out of days.