Dartford Warblers (again)

The post should have been titled Great Grey Shrike but things rarely go to plan. I had managed to get a couple of hours birding on a Saturday. An unusual occurrence, brought about by the wife having to attending a course and leaving me with the afternoon free. The plan was to head up to Iping Common to see the Shrike and I did eventually get to see it but not before being waylaid by an obliging Dartford Warbler.

I had been searching for the shrike for about an hour without any luck and without really seeing any birds at all. I stopped to consider what to do next but then saw a dark flash as a small bird disappeared into the gorse bush in front of me. That's usually all you see but this time the bird popped out on top of the bush and sat looking at me.

And it stayed to have its picture taken..... a good few times

I like the little white flash over the left eye. It will be interesting to see if I can spot it again later in the year.

Refreshed by having found a decent bird I set off in search of the Shrike again. There was no sign of it in its usual dead Birch Tree but I eventually found it flying three or for hundred metres to the south west of the car park. This is not a bird that is easy to approach, so I settle for a couple of distant record shots and left it in peace.

Poor framing but it was the only flight shot with the whole of the bird in picture

The light was going but I thought it was worth taking a small detour to see if the Little Owl was visible in its usual tree at Stapleash Farm. For anyone who does not know the location of the usual tree, see my blog of  January 2013, but be aware that one of the trees in the picture has now blown down.

This is a bird that really does not like to co-operate. At the first sign of anyone watching it runs along the branch into cover. This time I did not even get to see that, as it was already well concealed when I arrived.

An enjoyable afternoons birding with a few additions to the year list which is ticking along nicely.

Glaucous Gull

We were back at Littlehampton today. There had been fleeting glimpses of an adult Glaucous Gull on the last visits. It appeared to be in summer plumage with the grey and white  translucent wings that gave an elegant appearance and would give really good pictures. That is providing we could find it again. There had also been an adult Little Gull reported which again would take nice photographs.

We did find a Glaucous but not the one we were looking for. This was a juvenile and whilst already looking big it did not have the same elegant appearance that you would expect from the adult.

Juvenile Glaucous Gull on the right

and on the beach

We waited a couple of hours to see if a Little Gull would turn up. There seems to be a lot about this year but I just do not seem to be able to connect with one. There were a few other birders there who where mostly interested in the Kumlien's Gull but having done that to death over the past few days the Turnstones proved to be more interesting.

There were hundreds of them there both on the West Pier and feeding on the beach. They almost seemed to be lining up on the pier to play chicken with the big waves rolling in. They would sit packed together, head down into the wind and leave it to the last second before the wave struck to take to the air.

Lining up waiting for the next wave

There must be more comfortable places to wait for the tide to go out.

Early afternoon and we decided to move on. The Little Gull would have to wait for another day. Instead we went up to Stapleash Farm to have a look for the Little Owls.  It was good to see that they are still resident there although we only managed to pick out one.

 

Little Owl in its "usual Tree" see below

The Owls rarely give a clear view but for once the strong wind was helpful, blowing all the branches out of the way to give a brief clear view.

Little Owl

A good day but we still need that elusive Little Gull.

If you are interested in finding the usual tree see my blog of 9th January 2013.