Golden Eagle

Thursday 12th March

The forecast was for heavy rain by 11.30 so we only had a small window in which to find and photgraph Eagles. Dave had a location in the Findhorn Valley in mind and he could not have chosen better. As we arrived a couple of Ravens flew over and then a larger bird of prey. It could have been an Eagle but we were unable to confirm the sighting.

We got the cameras and scopes ready expecting a long wait but within minutes we had another bird drifting over the crag and this time there was no doubt, a Golden Eagle. Then the dilemma, look at it through the scope or try to get a picture. I, of course, tried both and probably did not get the best out of either, and, when a second Eagle turned up, I made an even bigger hash of it by locking up the controls on the camera and missing the shots of the two tumbling together.

The pictures are awful but given the weather and the distances involved I was happy to get any images.  For me they are a record of a few of the best hours birding that I have experienced. Ravens, Eagles, a Peregrine, a Sparrow Hawk, and a Dipper all without moving more than a few feet from the car.

It is only when you see a bad picture that you realise how effective the human eye is. Watching them live they appeared close and you could see all the detail, looking at the pictures visibility looks something close to zero. All the shots have been rescued after a lot of work on Photoshop.

A flyby - my only half decent shot

Perched on top of the crag - very distant

The white patches on the wing show this as a subadult probably year two or year three. It takes between five and seven years for the bird to gain its full adult plumage.

The rain set in at eleven thirty just as forecast and with nothing else for us to see in the valley we headed up to the coast. We found a raft of about forty Scaup just of Alturlie Point and a Red-throated Diver off Burgh Head but other than this there was not a lot about.

Scaup, male and female

Red-throated Diver

Well that gets rid of a lot of the worst photographs from the trip and just in case you were wondering what happened to Wednesday the answer is not a lot. Here are a few equally poor shots from that day.

The first just in case you are not sure of the differences between a Shag and a Cormorant and the second a Song Thrush as we could not relocate the Twite and the Yellowhammer I could hear singing disappeared very time I went to press the shutter. The seals looked promising but I was slowly sinking into the mud and could not get any closer.

Shag and Cormorants at Burgh Head

Song Thrush

Seals at Findhorn Bay

Little Gull

The water levels at Waltham Brooks may be dropping but they still have a long way to go. Good for the ducks and geese but not so good for the owls and raptors, nor as it happens for birders.

Female Scaup

Finding the female Scaup was not too difficult. It could be seen on the flooded fields on the western side of the river and north of the road. Getting close to it though was impossible. There is a bridleway there but a few steps along it and the water was over the wellies. So I had to make do with a record shot taken from the road about about a hundred metres away.

Plenty of Tufted Ducks and Pochard there along with a few Canada Geese, although the following shot was taken at Swanbourne Lake on the way up to Waltham Brooks. The birds there are just a little bit easier to approach.

Pochard

I did not fancy wading through the mud to search for birds so I decided to return to the coast and spend some more time on the Gulls. First stop was Brooklands and the chance to improve on the Little Gull shots in my last blog.

Little Gull

Not too difficult when it is sitting on the water but in flight this is not an easy bird to capture. Their flight is more like that of a Tern and they seem to have a sixth sense that enables them to execute a ninety degree turn just at the instant you press the shutter.

Flight shot

Underbody shows a slight rosy tinge in this picture

About two thirds of the size of a Black-headed Gull and a bit more agile.

I then moved on to Littlehampton for another go at the Glaucous and Kumlien's Gulls. They were both there and giving good views as usual but by then the light had gone.

Kumlien's Gull

Going back a few years I would spend hours producing sepia toned prints. Today I could get them for nothing. Sepia toned birds against a sepia toned sea and sky. It may work on landscapes but it doesn't do much for birds.

Kumlien's Gull

At least you could see the eye on the Glaucous Gull. It makes all the difference.

Glaucous Gull

Middle of the afternoon and I decided to head for home. The birds were good but without the light the pictures were hopeless.

Raven and Others

Another overcast and less than promising day but I was tempted out by reports of a couple of interesting birds over at Langstone Harbour and a Ravens nest being built at Cosham. My first stop was at Warblington Church to see if the Glossy Ibis was still around. It was, and these were the closest views I have ever had of this bird, but without any sun it just looked black and there were none of the deep greens, bronze and coppery red reflections I was hoping to capture. Still, a nice bird and I was happy to see it there.

Glossy Ibis

The bird was visible from the church path which leads through to the Nore stream at Emsworth. I had been there on a couple of occasions to see the resident Spotted Redshank but without any luck. It was high tide so I was not very hopeful of seeing the bird but it was only a short walk so I decided to give it a go.

Much to my surprise the Spotted Redshank was in the water about six feet from the path and showed no signs of moving. I actually had to move away from it to be able to get the camera to focus. It seemed too good to be true and it was. I managed one picture before the inevitable dog walker came along and the dog dived into the water in an attempt to catch the bird.

My remonstrations met with the usual arrogance - it was a Springer Spaniel - that's what they do - what did I expect. When I told her what I expected, I got the ultimate insult, she called me a Twitcher, deeply hurtful!

Fortunately the bird did not go too far and I still managed to get some good pictures.

Spotted Redshank

Reflections

It was proving to be a good day so I headed off to Cosham to see if I could locate an electricity pylon with a Ravens nest being built on it.

The nest is visible from the footpath running alongside the James Callaghan Drive at the top of the chalk pits. You cannot get close to the nest but you do get superb views.

A nest with a view

Raven - Black birds are always difficult to photograph

Bringing lining for the nest

Female trying it out for size

On the way home I called in at Budd's Sewage Works. First time I had been there and I was amazed at the number of birds present. I was hoping for good pictures of the Scaup but they stayed distant and the female did not raise her head to show the white face blaze that would confirm the identification.

Scaup - male on the left female on the right - white face blaze just visible

I had gone out with low expectations but it proved to be a good day. Plenty of birds about and enough light to get some good pictures.

Penduline Tit

Another early start, picking Dave up at 06.00 and heading out to Kent. Our first destination was Stodmarsh NNR to see if we could locate the Penduline Tit. The weather on the way down was not promising. There was dense fog in places with cloud cover above but we arrived with the sun breaking through and were able to quickly locate the bird.

Penduline Tit on Reedmace

Our last encounter with a Penduline Tit had involved distant views through moving reeds and whilst we had left happy to have seen the bird the pictures were not very good. This time we were more lucky, the bird came close and at times was perched out in the open.

Colours blend in well in the reed bed.

The thin mask and lack of red spotting on the breast suggest this is a female

As there had been various reports of between twenty and thirty Water Pipits at the Marsh Hide we felt obliged to struggle through the mud to have a look. There were only two visible in the distance when we arrived so no picture opportunities but still worth seeing. We also had views of two or three Marsh Harriers circling over the reserve.


Our next destination was the ARC Pit at Dungeness with the target bird being the Smew. We did locate the female (redhead) in the distance but there was no sign of the drake. However, there was a bonus sightings of a Great White Egret and there were also Marsh Harriers flying over the area.

Poor shot but an unusual bird - Redhead Smew

Great White Egret

Spring was in the air and the Goldeneye were getting amorous.

Goldeneye displaying

Making sure she doesn't escape

Either mating or attempted drowning

Still looking good

The one disappointment was that the Tree Sparrows at  Boulderwall Farm were not very visible. We still had three of our target birds for the day to look for so could not afford the time to wait.

Scotney Pit found us just inside the Sussex border when Dave located the drake and female Scaup through his scope. No chance of a picture using the camera or with the phone camera through the scope when I gave it a try. I will have to read up on how to do this. Next stop was Pett Level where we were hoping to see White-fronted and Pink-footed Geese. Dave found the Pink-footed but we had to get the Collins guide out so that he could convince me of what we were looking at. Good to have him along as I would not have spotted the Scaup or Pink-footed without his help.

Pink-footed Goose

We did not get to see the White-fronted Geese but whose complaining. We had five of our six target birds for the day and a few other good sightings as well with 50 different species seen. Its always worth leaving something for another day.