Owls

    Half way through March and I hadn't seen an owl this year. They were being reported from various locations but perhaps not in the numbers we have seen in previous years. This could be a sign of things to come with the milder winters we now seem to be experiencing.

I had a plan, Short-eared Owl on the north wall at Pagham and Barn Owl at Waltham Brooks. No problem, except that my first visit to the north wall proved to be the only night of the week that the SEO did not show.

I was having a bad week, an earlier trip down to Rye Harbour to see the Green-wing Teal and the Iceland Gull had drawn a blank on both. They were there the day before and the Iceland Gull was there early morning just before I arrived but both had departed never to be seen again. Another case of you should have been here yesterday.

Monday I returned to the North Wall, arriving mid afternoon and finding the SEO already out hunting. I watched it in the distance for about an hour with the light gradually starting to fade. Eventually it made a couple of closer passes and I managed to get a few pictures albeit still a bit distant.

Hawking the field

Diving in for the kill

Tuesday, flushed with my success at Pagham, I headed over to Waltham Brooks mid afternoon hoping to see the Barn Owl in good light. After two and a half hours standing in the middle of the brooks my hopes began to fade along with the light and thoughts of dinner waiting for me back at home had me heading back to the car.

Just before the railway crossing I had one final look and there it was approaching out of the growing gloom. I took a couple of distant photographs. At least you can see that it is a Barn Owl but I wouldn't care to blow it up any further.

Barn Owl

You forget just how lucky you are when you get a close flying Owl in good light. It happens only rarely. Perhaps I should go back for another go.

Corn Bunting

I failed to connect with a Corn Bunting last year, even though we had a couple of trips out towards the end of the year where it was the main target. I am not sure if it was a bad year for them or if they are disappearing from the local strongholds. More likely it was just incompetence on my part.

Two trips looking for them again this year, one at the Burgh and the other around the Steyning Bowl/ Nomans Land areas, have also drawn a blank. So today, when Short-eared Owls were the main target, it was a real bonus to find a Corn Bunting even if it was the only one we saw.

Corn Bunting

Better still, I had to close about 100 metres to get close enough for a picture and the bird waited patiently for me to get there and then to take the usual twenty or thirty near identical pictures. I wish all birds were so cooperative.

Half way there and a safety shot just in case it takes off

A slight variation in the pose!

The day had not started too well. We visited Pagham North Wall. There were thousands of birds out on the mudflats but nothing on the Breech Pool and nothing close enough to photograph. Selsey Bill was devoid of birds although there had been a few through earlier in the day.

A trip to Apuldram had given us sight of a lot of Yellowhammers in the barley field north of the horse paddock. They were impossible to count but there was certainly a lot of action. We wasted half an hour trying to get a picture but the results were a bit disappointing. Perhaps a hide and a bit of patience would deliver better results but I suspect you would just get a queue of dog walkers asking what you were doing.

Running out of ideas we headed up to the Burgh for a raptor watch, only to find tractors and muck spreaders busy at work in front of the viewpoint. Dave suggested a walk round to the dew pond to look for Short-eared Owls. I wasn't too keen, I had only seen one sighting report all winter and the idea of home and a cup of tea was beginning to grow.

Fortunately Dave prevailed, I got my Corn Bunting, we saw at least three Short-eared Owls, and a possible although distant Hen Harrier.

Short-eared Owl

The Owls were not quite as obliging as the Corn Bunting. They gave a few reasonable fly-bys but the hoped for landing on a post just a few feet away did not happen.

Still, great fun to watch and to photograph, we just need to find a Barn Owl now.

It has been very quiet around the area for the past week or so. There was a juvenile Eider in Shoreham Harbour for a couple of days and there has been a rather sick and scrawny looking Red-necked Grebe on Brooklands Lake. The Eider was worth a photograph but as much as I would like a close up photograph of a Red-necked Grebe I think the Brooklands bird is best left in peace.

Juvenile Eider

Short-eared Owl Revisited

Whilst we were taking pictures of the Short-eared Owl yesterday Dave thought he caught a glimpse of a Great Grey Shrike. We were unable to confirm the sighting but a couple of birders we spoke to later had also seen it. Today I was passing through Arundel and with a bit of time to spare I thought I would go and have another look.

Despite a good search there was no sign of the Shrike but I did come across a Short-eared Owl perched up on a post by the railway. A second great opportunity in two days. I did feel a bit guilty as there was a sizeable group of people down by the wooden bridges waiting for an owl to appear, but I soon got over it.

An unexpected find - searching for food from a post

Food is the first priority

Checking me out to make sure that I was not a threat

Note that in the shot above, with half the face in shadow, the pupils are a different size. The problem is that when you manoeuvre around to get the whole of the face into sunlight, the light is too bright for the owl and it keeps its eyes half closed. Not only do you need the perfect opportunity but you also need a day with high thin cloud to give a nice soft diffuse lighting. Then of course your speed will be too low and you will get a blurred shot. The joys of bird photography in the UK.

This bird had very contrasting plumage with pale buff white and heavy dark streaking. It is probably the first bird seen yesterday, the second one being a less contrasty rufous colour.

Stay outside the birds threat zone and when you go make sure that it is left peaceful and undisturbed.

It looks happy enough but I guess it was still listening out for any noise that I made just in case I become a threat. I tiptoed away with out disturbing it, only for a train to come thundering through less than ten foot away from it. Even then it seemed reluctant to take to the air.

Short-eared Owl

Another lovely day for bird photography but initially very little to photograph. Fortunately it all came good at the end of the day.

We had started off at Warnham LNR hoping to see Redpolls and the Brambling that had been reported there over the weekend. Neither showed and we were left with a couple of Siskin and the usual range of birds on the feeders. The highlight was probably this Bank Vole putting in an occasional and very fleeting appearance.

Bank Vole

And a quick visit from a Jay.

Jay

With Reed Buntings making up the numbers.

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

We moved on to Pulborough Brooks which proved to be a slight improvement. We saw Bullfinches and Ruff but the former were feeding deep within a hedge and the later were too far away for a picture. A pity really, as one of the Ruff looked to be showing a white collar, perhaps the start of its display plumage.

There were also Fieldfare and Redwing feeding in the fields but I only had this one picture opportunity.

Redwing

We decided to finish the day at Waltham Brooks looking for Owls. As it turned out, it was a good decision. There was no Barn Owl but we did have two Short-eared Owl quartering the brooks. The pictures never really do justice to the magic of seeing the owls but it is still nice to get them.

Short-eared Owl

The second Short-eared Owl

The lighting is different in these two pictures but the wing markings suggest that these are two different birds. The first bird showing much more contrast in its plumage whilst the second is the more usual rufous colouration.

Eventually one of the birds settled in a tree about one hundred and fifty metres away and seemed content to stay there a while.

Too good a chance to miss

Having made sure that none of the other birders present objected I decided to try to get a little closer. Yet another photographer trying to spook the bird I hear you say. Well I did get a lot closer and I did get some good pictures but when I backed off the bird was still sitting in its tree looking quite relaxed. The birders were probably more upset as they would have liked to see it flying again.

The sad thing is that I have delete around a hundred pictures that are arguably just as good as the ones above.

Short-eared Owl

It would have been nice if a few of the rarities reported around the country over the past couple of months had spent a few days in Sussex. It would have been even nicer if we had seen some decent weather. Birding you can do when its raining, bird photography needs good light. I think I have managed five blogs in the past two months and it has been a struggle to come up with any material for those. Fortunately Monday was a good day, weather wise, and Dave and I set off to pursue some decent pictures.

We headed east along the coast but it was a slow start to the day. There was nothing worth photographing at Widewater and nothing out on the sea. We found one Purple Sandpiper at Shoreham Fort but it only gave fleeting views and a single Rock Pipit on the harbour wall.

The Great Northern Diver did not show at Shoreham Port. A great pity, as with some of its summer plumage still showing it would have taken a good picture. I had seen it over the weekend but that was in pouring rain and near zero visibility.

Our next stop could have been Brighton Marina but with a Red-throated Diver reported at Newhaven Marina we decided to give it a miss. Bad mistake, there was a long-eared Owl sitting out in the Marina giving great views. Worse still the Red-throated Diver had moved on and apart from a few Herring and Black-headed Gulls there was nothing in Newhaven Harbour.

The first decent weather for photography in a long time and we couldn't find any birds. Fortunately Tide Mills came to the rescue. There were two Short-eared Owls quartering the fields and scrub area at the back of the beach. I think food must be in short supply for them to be out hunting at eleven o'clock in the morning. They were easy to spot as the crows were up mobbing them for most of the time that we watched.

Short-eared Owl

We walked out to the Harbour arm to have a look for the Purple Sandpipers but, having been delayed by the owl, the tide was receding and we were a bit late for the best views. All I could manage was this shot down on to one bird feeding in the gloom around the legs of the pier.

Purple Sandpiper

A Guillemot swimming and preening just off the beach was a bit unusual

Guillemot

and there was the ever present Stonechat.

Stonechat

Nothing unusual found on the day but it was nice to be out taking pictures again. We went out again this morning, this time to Southsea Castle looking for Purple Sandpipers. This time the tide was too high and there were none about.

We only had about an hour before the light disappeared and the rain returned. I spent most of that time trying to get a picture of Chiffchaffs that were feeding in the garden next to the castle. No luck with that but I did pick up another Rock Pipit and a couple of the usual suspects.

Rock Pipit

House Sparrow

Pied Wagtail

Pied Flycatcher

There has been some good birding over the past few days, although the picture opportunities have not been so great. We had a big fall of birds over Sunday night, Monday morning and with thick sea mists rolling in the birds stayed on the coast. The bushes around Selsey were full of hundreds and more likely thousands of Willchaffs and there were probably rarities in there as well but there were just too many birds to look at.

We missed a Black-winged Stilt by minutes and also failed to find a reported Grasshopper Warbler but we had great views of a pair of Redstarts and two Pied Flycatchers. The fall also included Greenfinches and Blackcaps and it also looked as though there were more Robins about.

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Willow Warbler

Willow Warbler

Female Blackcap

Male Blackcap

We also had views of a Short-eared Owl quartering the fields just below the Long Pool at Pagham Harbour.

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Then today it was over to Pullborough Brooks to see the Nightingales. They were there and were doing some singing but they were not showing very well. They probably need another week before they start setting up their territories.

Nightingale

Nightingale

Linnet

Lets hope for a few more good birds over the coming days.