Serin

After six hours standing in the cold on Tuesday with no sightings of the Serin I am not sure if I was pleased or not when it was reported again on Wednesday evening. There was little choice, I had never seen a Serin in the UK, so I had to have another go. Dave picked me up at 0800 and we headed off down to "Turd" Mills.

Success - we only had to wait about fifteen minutes and it flew in.

It spent much of the time in the undergrowth feeding but did move around a lot and on occasions perched up in a small tree or on one of the old walls.

The best views were obtained early on with less perched up shots being offered as the morning wore on. It also made occasional forays out of sight eastwards but always returned a few minutes later. The flight seemed fast and direct and was always easy to pick up as it approached.

I am told that it was also calling and singing but the sound is beyond my range.

A fantastic little bird and well worth the hours spent waiting for it in the cold.

By late morning the number of birders was beginning to grow so we decided to move on, but where to go. We had a look for Purple Sandpipers at the end of the east pier but with the tide out there were none present.

In the end we decided on a trip up to Crawley to see the Rose-coloured Starling. This is a bird we had avoided until now. Standing in the street scanning people's back gardens with camera and bins does not really sit comfortably with me but as my header says - once the crowds have died down I might give it a go.

In this case the crowds have died down, there was no one there. The garden was easy to find, it was full of birds, and the starling flock soon put in an appearance with the Rose-coloured easy to spot. It was difficult to get a shot where the bird was not obscured by branches but I ended up with better than I had expected. I just wish I could have said thank you to the people that own the house.

Rose-coloured Starling

I have seen a Rose-coloured Starling before but that was a rather washed out nondescript looking juvenile. This one is starting to show some coloured plumage and the promise of some really good photographic opportunities to come.

Two great birds in a day and they could both stay around for some time. The Rose-coloured in full summer plumage could well convince me to go back for a few more pictures.

Rose-coloured Starling

It was located with a flock of Starlings on the Selsey seafront but don't expect the bright pink of an adult male. This was a juvenile so it looks a bit like a washed out Common Starling but with a pale yellow bill and showing some contrast between a pale body and darker wings. That is, if you can see the body and wings in my pictures, as the bird stayed well hidden in bushes where the rest of the starling flock was feeding on the blackberries.

Thinking of coming out into the open

But happier staying in deep cover

If I was just a birder I would probably have been happy going away with a life tick but as a bird photographer you are left with the feeling that there was a better shot to be had. The trouble is that I will probably see it on other people's blogs over the next few days.

It's funny seeing something exotic like the Rose-coloured Starling alongside our plain old common Starling. Sometimes we don't see what is in front of us. Perhaps we should look a little harder at what is one of our most colourful birds. Shots below from the same starling flock.

Brilliant colours at this time of year

Looks more like a bird of the rain forests than the British lawn

Returning from Selsey we stopped off at Pagham North Wall. It seemed quiet although we did manage to find around ten Snipe on the back of the Breech Pool. Dave also spotted a Barnacle Goose in amongst the Canada Geese.

Barnacle Goose showing white face and black breast

There were also some Barnacle/Canada crosses on the pool with what appeared to be part of the family group.

Two black breasts at the back suggesting Barnacle - one with Canada Goose face one more like Barnacle

It has been a bit slow on the rest of the birding front. I am still chasing Ring Ouzels. I caught a glimpse of one as it was flushed from the Yew tree on Cissbury by a Sparrowhawk but there was no chance of a picture. Hopeful there will be a few more through soon. As always there was a consolation and this time it was Mistle Thrushes in the same tree.

Mistle Thrush

Kestrels are also easy to photograph on Cissbury. This one was taken looking straight into the sun. A bit more artistic than record shot and it would have been deleted without the bokeh effects in the background.

Kestrel with bokeh effect