Pied Flycatcher

A three day stay down in Canterbury gave me the chance to visit a few of the birding sites around the Kent area. It's always worth a stop at Scotney Pits on the way down to scan the geese and wildfowl flocks and this time I found the Barnacle Goose flock close enough to photograph. Although I did have to look hard to find one that looked a pure bred Barnacle. Most seem to be Barnacle/Emperor hybrids.

Barnacle Goose

Next stop was Dungeness and for once it did not deliver. All I had there were distant views of all the usual birds with the highlight being a female Red-crested Pochard. A disappointment as Dungeness usually manages to turn up something out of the ordinary. Leaving early afternoon, with the weather starting to cloud over and with only the pictures of the Barnacles in the bag, I was in two minds over giving up for the day. Fortunately I decided to take a detour via Dover and stopped off in Samphire Hoe.

For anyone that does not know about the Hoe, it is a platform created at the base of the cliffs to the west of Dover using the spoils from the digging of the Channel Tunnel. It covers about thirty hectares and is accessed by a tunnel through the cliffs from the east bound carriage way, when leaving Dover on the A20. Observers have recorded 230 species of plants, 30 species of butterfly, 150 species of moth, and 213 species of birds there. It's well worth a visit if you are down that way. It has easy access and the wardens are always helpful with any sightings they have made.

That was the case again this time and within a couple of minutes of arriving I had locations for a Pied Flycatcher, Redstarts, and Black Redstarts. It wasn't going to be easy in the rapidly fading light. Shutter speeds were around a 1/60 of a second at ISO400, and holding a 700mm lens combination steady at that speed is not easy. Still I got some shots and although they are a little soft I was quite pleased with them. Fortunately you do not have to look at all the ones that failed.

Pied Flycatcher

Redstart

The Redstart was very obliging and gave close views. The Pied Flycatcher was a bit harder and I only ended up with the one decent picture. By then the rain had set in and there was no point in looking for the Black Redstarts.

Needless to say I was back down there at 0700 the next morning when the site opened. The light was superb, bright but with a thin cloud cover, giving a very diffuse but clear light. Pictures were going to be really good and would have been if the birds were still there. The Redstarts had disappeared completely, the Pied Flycatcher was still there but it was now in a wooded gulley half way up the cliffs and beyond the range of the camera. I was gutted, I waited at the bottom for a couple of hours but there was no sign of it coming down.

There was some consolation in the Black Redstarts. I had been warned that they were hard to photograph. They did not allow close approach and a small black bird hunting over black seaweed covered rocks was not going to be easy. I did try concealing myself in amongst the rocks and waiting for them to come to me but they obviously new that I was there and avoided the area. On top of that it was uncomfortable and you do get some strange looks from passers bye, when they notice you lurking with a paparazzi style camera, apparently taking pictures of bits of seaweed.

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

The pictures don't really do the bird justice. Here's one taken a couple of years ago under better conditions.

Black Redstart taken at Climping Beach Sussex - October 2012

I had another look for the Pied Flycatcher but it was nowhere to be seen. There were a couple of Ravens and a Peregrine squabbling around the cliff tops but they were too far away for a picture but I did managed a few other shots around the site.

Wheatear

Whitethroat

and there was an unusual visitor to one of the feeders. It makes a change from the usual tree rats.

Brown Rat

The route home was along the north coast of Kent with the main stop being at Oare Marshes There were thousands of birds there with some of the most spectacular being the Starlings. It's not just their synchronised flying that is the attraction, this time of year they have spectacular iridescent colours that make them look more like a tropical bird.

Starling

Apart from the wildfowl the majority of the other birds were Lapwings and Golden Plover but there were also Ruff and Curlew Sandpiper amongst them.

Curlew Sandpiper and Ruff

Ruff

Golden Plover with Starlings and what looks like another Ruff with its head in the water.

You can get close to the birds at Oare but the better picture opportunities are in the afternoon when the sun is over your shoulder. There is a path round behind the birds if you are there in the morning but you are further away from them.

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

Whinchat

Out with Dave on Tuesday and it was back to Pagham Harbour still looking for a Yellow Wagtail. First stop was Church Norton but there had obviously been a big clear out overnight and there was very little showing. Nice to see Dave mobile again, but it was just as well that I had him to talk to as there was nothing happening on the birding front. The best we could manage were distant views of a Restart and also of a Spotted Flycatcher as we returned to the car park.

The Long Pool gave distant views of a Greenshank and whilst the Ferry Pool had a good few birds on it they were mostly distant as well.

Next stop was the North Wall and as with yesterday the Sand Martins and Swallows were still gathering on the power lines at the entrance. Lots of chattering and preening going on in preparation for migration.

Sand Martin

There was nothing outstanding on the Breech Pool or in the Creek, but there was a constant stream of interesting birds. I checked Dave's blog and as I expected, he had spent so long enjoying the sunshine and talking to people, that he had forgotten to take pictures of most of them.

There were Common Sandpipers and a possible Curlew Sandpiper in the creek but they were difficult to photograph against the harsh backlight. These two were out on the harbour wall. There is quite a difference in size but they both look like Commons.

Common Sandpipers

 The Spotted Redshank was still around but that has been in my last two blogs. There were a couple of Snipe showing well and also two Dunlin that were being harrassed by the Lapwings whenever they approached too close. Whilst a common wader the Dunlin are still an attractive bird.

Dunlin

Snipe

 

One of the more interesting birds of the day was this Starling that came in at the back of the Breech Pool. Its the first time I had seen one looking like this.

Starling

The Yellow Wagtails were about but keeping their distance again. I need to get a few shots of them when they are feeding around the cattle, where they seem much more approachable. There is also a Canary Yellow male about the North Wall somewhere. I had seen it the previous day but only managed a blurred shot of its top half and it showed fleetingly again today.

Yellow Wagtail

The ducks are starting to return with Teal already in large numbers. Three unusual ducks flew in as we watched. It's always difficult when they are in eclipse but these were sleek, long tailed and long winged. Pintails, a greyhound amongst ducks as Collins puts it.

Pintails

Showing upper wing markings so this is a male in eclipse.

Finally as we were leaving we had distant views of a Whinchat, either a female or a juvenile. The pictures are poor but you are seeing them anyway as this is my 200th bird for the year (203 if I count Ireland)

Whinchat

Whinchat

When I arrived home I saw the report of the Sykes's/Booted Warbler at Climping . I thought about it for a while and in the end decided that as it was so close I should go. When I arrived there were a lot of people standing around the Tamarisk bushes looking for the bird. I did see a bird flitting between bushes and disappearing into deep cover and there seemed general agreement that this was the Sykes's. I am not sure. It was probably a warbler that I was looking at but I could not get a picture of it, and I certainly could not identify what type of warbler it was.

The light was fading so I decided to go home. I will not be adding this to my life list but I might just go back in the morning and have another look. That is if the crowds are not too big.