Tawny Owl

I visited Bramber Nature Reserve this morning. I had been intending to visit for a while but was triggered into action by reports of a Tawny Owl and owlet in one of the trees close to the entrance.

I arrived early and spent some time searching the tree. The adult (I assume a female) was easy to find but getting a photograph proved to be difficult due to the branches blocking the view. The chick if it was still there must have been well hidden as I could not find it.

I went for a walk around the reserve and returned an hour later. It was good timing on my part. Not only had the owl moved position but the light had improved and the owl briefly opened it's eyes.

Common Whitethroat, Blackcaps and a Green Woodpecker were seen around the reserve with Reed and Sedge Warblers heard only. Unfortunately none were giving picture opportunities. The reserve is a great addition to the local area and in particular to the chances of maintaining a green corridor along the Adur River.


The mornings target achieved and it only just having turned eight o'clock I decided to drive over to Park Heath Corner and have a look for the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries.

It was very quiet when I arrived but they were soon flying and in numbers greater than anything I had seen on the reserve before. A real success story for the Fritillaries for the Future project and for a butterfly that seemed to be lost to Sussex only a few years ago.

I spent a couple of hours trying to get a photograph but failed miserably. It was a hot morning and the butterflies which were probably all males were hyperactive. They are always difficult to photograph but I usually manage to get a couple of shots. For best results you really need a female or mating pair or a return late afternoon when they may be getting tired and will spend some time nectaring. Or it could just be that I am getting too old for chasing butterflies around under the hot sun!


Next stop was Old Lodge in the Ashdown Forest. I was hoping for Tree Pipit and Woodlark but there was very little moving. The temperature was getting uncomfortably hot and the area was very dry, although the dragonfly ponds still held some water and  a few dragonflies.

I spent a couple of hours walking around and did eventually get to see a two Woodlarks just as I was returning to the car park to leave.

Woodlark

Probably my best find of the day was the plant below. It looks like Bog Beacon Mitrula paludosa which has been recorded at Old Lodge but I can't be certain, apparently there are several very similar Mitrula species, separable only by microscopic examination.

Bog Beacon Mitrula paludosa - I think!

These specimens looked to be past their best. I will have to look out for it a bit earlier next year.

Turtle Dove

It has been a bit of a mixed bag so far this week. Tuesday I was out looking for Turtle Doves on the Knepp Estate. There had been a number of reports of them posted but after four hours of searching I hadn't even managed to hear one purring. There were Cuckoos calling all over the place but they were very difficult to see. At least the Storks were showing well. I assume these two were from the re-introduction scheme. They looked like Red DC and Grey CU. Odd though that they had the rings on opposite legs.

With nothing much else showing, I went over to Woods Mills to look for a Turtle Dove there. The result was exactly the same

White Storks probably from the Knepp re-introduction sceme

Wednesday morning, this time with Dave as my good luck charm, we tried Woods Mills again and one of the first birds we saw was a Turtle Dove.

Then off to find our next target, West Sussex Wall Brown butterflies. A quick trek up onto the downs and we had eight to ten of the butterflies in our sights. Great butterflies to see but very territorial and aggressive and thus difficult to photograph as they are always on the move.

Wall Brown

Wall Brown

We also managed to find a single Small Blue at Kithurst Meadow but in the scramble to get a picture it did a disappearing act and we could not relocate it. I am always surprised at just how small they actually are. Later on we had our first Small Copper at Whiteways.

Small Copper

Green-veined Whites

Green-veined White mud puddling

Brimstone

And the dragonfly season is also under way with the best seen so far, an early Brown Hawker at Rowlands Wood. I see them there most years but as ever it failed to put down anywhere for a picture.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Azure Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

So a good day Tuesday. Wednesday we were out early looking for more of the same. This time at  Old Lodge with targets of Woodlark, Tree Pipit and Redstart. Unfortunately the weather did not live up to expectations, being cold and windy, and we only managed the Woodlark.

Woodlark

 Compensation was in the form of a Garden Warbler that Dave found belting out its song from halfway up a Pine tree in Rowlands Wood. My first of the year.

Garden Warbler

Mating Bloody-nosed Beetles

Well at least it's a title that I haven't used before.

I travelled around a few local sites today, looking for some of the birds that had been reported, but without much luck. The highpoint of the day were these two Bloody-nosed Beetles that I watched for about an hour. You have to admire his stamina, he didn't even take a break in that time. On the other hand the female didn't seem to notice he was there and just carried on walking for the whole time he was engaged.

Bloody-nosed Beetles

There were a lot more pictures but they don't really add much value. There was not a lot of variation in the action. The most interesting thing was the little pads on his feet that he uses to hang on. I must try to find out if they are suction or sticky.

Birds photographed were all at Old Lodge NR in Ashdown Forest. I managed to see five Redstars but I could not get a decent picture of any of them.

Male Redstart

A bit closer but a photograph of the wrong end

There were also Tree Pipits present enabling a comparison of  Meadow and Tree pipit.

Tree Pipit

Meadow Pipit

The usual Stonechats, although it was difficult to capture the contrasting black and white colours in the bright sunlight.

Stonechat

Woodlarks and plenty of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs.

Woodlark

Contrasting colours but I am assuming that both of these are Willow Warblers

A good days birding but with Hoopoe, Wryneck, Ring Ouzel, Greater Yellowlegs, and Bee-eater being reported I could have hoped for something more.

Little Gull and Garganey

During spring migration West Sussex often seems to be sitting in a dead triangle with good birds being reported in Hampshire and in East Sussex and with very little making landfall along our piece of the coast which lies between them. So today, looking for a piece of the action, we set off for the Hampshire Wildlife Trust's Testwood Lakes to look for the Little Gull and Garganey that had been reported there.

I had not been there before and initial impressions were not good. We pulled into the first car park next to Testwood Lake to be greeted by the usual assortment of dogs and dog walkers including one rather large Pit Bull/Staffy type wandering about without a lead. Fortunately the sight of a Little Gull performing acrobatics over the lake soon diverted our attentions from the potential threat.

Little Gull

I am no expert at ageing gulls but I assume that this is a second calendar year bird.

Photographing them is great fun but always a bit of a compromise. If they are at a distance you loose the detail. If they come in close you get the opportunity of some great pictures but their erratic flight pattern and frequent changes of direction make them very difficult to track and keep in focus.

A Lesser Black-backed Gull gets in on the action - and proves a lot easier to photograph

A quick check on the map showed that there was a second car park further along the track and that we were not actually in the Wildlife Trust reserve. A short drive and a large "no dogs allowed" sign and our opinions of the site improved dramatically.

A short walk took us to a couple of good hides looking out over the scrapes and Meadow Lake. There was also a Sand Martin wall that was seeing a lot of action.

Sand Martin Wall

It was interesting to see that here they plug the holes with sand each winter and the birds have to dig there way through to get a nesting burrow. I don't think they do this at the Arundel Wetland Centre, which could be part of the reason why the Sand Martins always stop there to have a look but never actually nest there.

The scrapes and lake also gave us our first Swallows and Little Ringed Plover of the year but the real prize was the drake Garganey. Dave picked it up as it flew into the reeds on the edge of Meadow Lake. We then had about an hour of watching as it attempted to stay hidden whilst feeding amongst the reeds. It was distant and it was hidden most of the time but these were the best views I have ever had of a Garganey.

Drake Garganey

and with a Mallard for comparison of size

We moved on to the New Forest in the afternoon looking for signs of Goshawks or Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers but the best of the day had gone. It even looks as though the Tawny Owl at Mark Ash Wood has abandoned its usual hole. The only thing of note in the forest was the increase in the level of tourists, bicycles, and mobile sheds. I am already looking forward to next winter.

The main birds of note in the forest were the Stonechats, Meadow Pipits and Woodlarks.

Meadow Pipit?

and I still haven't seen a Wheatear this year!

Slavonian Grebe

I seem to have spent most of the past week at Old Lodge trying to get a picture of the Little Bunting. I think I have seen it, both perched and doing a flyby, but I haven't got a picture and I haven't been able to confirm the sighting. Dave, standing next to me got the picture. Click here to have a look. This is getting to be a bit of a habit on his part. He calls it luck but it's starting to happen too often for that. Even my wife is suggesting that he may just be a better bird photographer than I am!

All I managed to get at Old Lodge were a few shots of the Woodlarks that were busy displaying over the reserve.

Woodlark

For a time it looked as though there would be no pictures for the blog but fortunately the Slavonian Grebe at Arlington Reservoir took pity on me and stayed around long enough to give me a few good pictures.

Slavonian Grebe

The grebe was busy feeding and did not seem to be at all bothered by my presence. In the time I watched, it caught three fish and was still actively feeding when I left. It makes you wonder how many it can swallow at one sitting.

The only problem that I had was its annoying habit of turning its back to the sun when it surfaced with a fish. Trying to get the exposure right on the face, then gives you problems with the neck and tail burning out. I am not sure if this was just bad luck or if the grebe does this deliberately to give it better visibility of its prey.

Other pictures taken over the past week include the Kumlien's Gull at Littlehampton. I am just hoping that it returns next year as a third winter.

Kumlien's Gull

and a selection of Chiffchaffs from Steyning and Coldwaltham Sewerage Farms. There must be a Siberian in here somewhere.

Is that a splash of yellow on its side? - not Siberian if it is

Definitely buff coloured but what about its back and wings?

Looks like the best prospect.

Some good pictures but I didn't get the Little Bunting. Having missed the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker the week before, I am starting to build up a list of places and birds that I need to return to. Lets hope we get some decent weather.

Cyprus

I had a week in Cyprus over Christmas on a family holiday. Whilst that meant no going off  by myself for the day birding, I did still get to see plenty of birds. We were based in Paphos so a walk around the headland always presented a good opportunities to see the birds, although unfortunately, not the Greater Sand Plover that I had been told were almost guaranteed there.

Waders were in short supply and the only ones I saw, Common Sandpipers and Golden Plover, hardly set the heart racing. Pictures were also harder to come by as I did not have the large lens with me.

Common Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Golden Plover

Golden Plover

And with a Kingfisher sitting by one of the rock pools it felt just like being at home.

Kingfisher

The most common birds were House Sparrows, Larks, Black Redstarts, Stonechats and Hooded Crows.

Crested Lark

Crested Lark

Woodlark

Woodlark

Skylark

Black Redstart

Hooded Crow

Hooded Crow and Kestrel

We had one day up in the Troodos mountains and this was the one that I had been looking forward to. I had great hopes of seeing some decent raptors - but it didn't happen. We got up over 6000ft and had some great views out over the valleys but there were no birds flying. All I saw all day were Chaffinches and Sparrows and one very distant raptor that was too far away to identify.


Back down on the Paphos headland I finally caught up with a couple of decent birds, a Spanish Sparrow and a Sardinian Warbler.

Spanish Sparrow

Sardinian Warbler

Sardinian Warbler

I didn't see any signs of shooting or of the lime sticks that I have seen on other Mediterranean islands but there were caged birds around, in particular Turtle Doves. Its sad when I think how long I spend each year trying to see them in the UK.

Linnet

As always, I would have liked to have seen more. Perhaps I will be able to get back sometime in the future and spend a bit more time tracking down some of the birds but that's it for now.