Wryneck

It's Wryneck time again, one of the highlights of the birding year. They are always such a fantastic bird to see and to photograph. There may not be many of them but when they are feeding up, before crossing the channel, they do tend be loyal to a patch and so can be relatively easy to find.

This year there looked to be a good candidate at Farlington Marsh. We gave the Bank Holiday weekend a miss but were along there early on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately so where a lot of other people. 

My best pictures have always come from watching the birds feeding pattern and sitting down in the open where you expect it to get to in about ten minutes time. My experience is that if you stay seated and move slowly the bird will ignore you and come close. See here for some examples.

Today was a bit different. As soon as the bird was sighted there was a bit of a scrum. It's understandable, everyone wants  to see the bird and that includes me but all I got were a couple of rather distant shots before the bird took fright and disappeared.

Wryneck

Wryneck

If it's still there in a weeks time I might have another go.


There have been a lot of other migrants through over the past few days. They mostly seem to be juveniles but I am still hoping for a some better pictures and I still haven't seen a Spotted Flycatcher.

Whinchat

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Yellow Wagtail

Wheatear

And from a trip over to Anchor Bottom to look for Clouded Yellows, no pictures of said butterfly, although we did see two brightly coloured males and one female. It was just too hot to chase after them up and down the slopes.


Worth going though, as there were still Adonis Blue on the wing and I needed Autumn Lady's Tresses to complete my Orchid year.

Adonis Blue

Autumn Lady's Tresses

Autumn Lady's Tresses

Thirty six species of orchid seen this year plus a number of variants and hybrids. It could have been more but it would have needed a few trips to Scotland and the north of England to find them. I am not going to do long distance twitching for single targets but combine birds, orchids, dragonflies and butterflies and the trips look more acceptable.

Wryneck

A morning up on Chantry and Kithurst hills, earlier in the week, gave great sightings of up to ten Ravens and half a dozen Buzzards. We watched them for a couple of hours as they practiced aerobatics, squabbled over territory, and just seemed to be enjoying themselves tumbling in the updrafts.

Great fun but a bit of a disaster for me, photographic wise. I took lots of pictures but the quality was just not there; poor light, blurred, out of focus, heat haze, mist, lots of excuses but at the end of the day, probably just that the photographers skills were not up to the challenge. So only one shot from the session.

Ravens on Kithurst Hill

Find of the day was this Wryneck spotted in the distance as we waked up towards the trig point. Nice to find our own rather than have to go twitching someone else's bird, even if we did only get fleeting views.

Big crop of a distant Wryneck

Lots of Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings about although the flock of Corn Buntings seemed to be making a point of avoiding anywhere that I chose to stand.

Yellowhammer

A trip up to Cissbury today produced mixed results, with the usually reliable Monarch's Way proving to be virtually birdless. We did see a few Yellow Wagtails in with the cattle but these were spooked by the farmer coming through on his quad bike.

Yellow Wagtail

Cissbury Ring itself was also looking quiet with just a raven and a couple of Wheatears.

Wheatear

Second Wheatear

But fortunately, as we were about to leave a mixed flock of Spotted Flycatchers and Redstarts came through the wooded area on the east of the ring and rescued the day.

Redstart

Spotted Flycatchers

Earlier in the week we had seen a good number of Yellow Wagtails in with the cattle at the western end of the North Wall but these had proved to be very flighty. With good numbers of Cattle Egrets being reported it seemed to be worth another visit.

Grey Heron on the Breech Pool

There was no sign of the Yellow Wags but the Cattle Egrets were showing well with a group of twelve birds, consisting of eleven Cattle Egrets and one Little Egret. A record number for me in this country.

Eleven Cattle Egrets and One Little Egret front right

We also managed to get a distant sighting of the Spoonbill out in White's Creek but missed out on the Curlew Sandpiper that has been around for a few days.

Wryneck 2

Following on from the last blog, on the Church Norton Wryneck, Dave an I made another visit to the Severals hoping for better picture opportunities. We spent a few more hours standing around waiting but the best we had were brief glimpses of it feeding on the ground.

I had really given up on Wrynecks for this year but then on Wednesday I took Sue and her friend Maggie over to the Seven Sisters Country Park for lunch and a gentle afternoon stroll. We walked into the cafe just before twelve o'clock and I knew it was going to be a good day when I just managed to get my order in for the full english breakfast with two minutes to spare.

After lunch (or in my case breakfast) they decided to go over to Beachy Head for their walk and so to avoid the worse of the crowds I parked up near Shooters Bottom. I confess that I had completely forgotten that there was a really obliging Wryneck at that location! That was until Sue spotted a group of people with long lenses, lurking in the undergrowth and suggested I go over to see what they were up to. Never one to argue I did as I was told. Suspicious looking characters they were but it was great to meet up with Paul Snellgrove and David Gardiner again.

Initially it didn't look too promising. Paul put me onto the Wryneck but it just stuck its tongue out at me and then flew off.

It then reappeared a short distance away feeding on the ground.

It obviously did not see us as a threat and was happy to come within about twenty feet of us.

Above feeding and below showing the long tongue as it searches for its main food source ants and for other small insects in the undergrowth.

It turned out to be a very productive hours birding and I came away with some great pictures. To cap a good day I found a couple of Small Copper butterflies, a rather rare species this year.

Wryneck

A day of highs and lows, with hours spent standing around waiting for birds to show, a few memorable minutes when they did, some classic missed opportunities and a few good pictures.

The day started on the Arun River, at the marina, just south of the Littlehampton bridge. We had gone there to look for the Osprey. We didn't have to wait long. Just as we got out of the car it passed over our heads probably no more then forty feet away. Great views but the cameras were still packed away in the car boot. 

We chased it down river, only to find that it had circled round over the golf course, to head back to where we started from.

Back to the bridge and we set up to wait for its return and for some picture opportunities. Two hours later and we were still waiting. With nothing happening, boredom was setting in so we decided to head over to Pagham Harbour to look for the Wryneck. Cameras packed away, we started down the bank, only for the Osprey to reappear and make another low pass over us. Another great view but by the time we had a camera locked on it was disappearing into the distance.

The Wryneck was a lot easier. We arrived at the Severals to find it sitting out on the top of some brambles. It had its back to us most of the time but these were far better views than you usually get of a Wryneck. We were also told that it had been showing well for most of the morning.

After a few minutes it flew into cover but this looked really promising. We settled down expecting the bird to put in regular appearances and to give us some great picture opportunities. Two possibly three hours later we were still waiting. We had occasional glimpses of the Wryneck feeding in the long grass or flying between bushes but nothing out in the open.

Eventually we tired of this and decided to head back to Littlehampton for another try for the Osprey.  As a result, yet another hour was wasted with nothing to look at.

If we were just birders we could have moved on, happy that we had seen the birds and got our year tick, but as a bird photographer there is always a better picture waiting to be taken. Eight hours standing around waiting for those better picture with just a three or four minute slot actually taking them. It sounds a bit extreme and it's not for everyone, but hey, I look at the pictures now and for me it was all worthwhile.


All I have to do now is catch up with that Osprey.

Wryneck

I finally managed to catch up with the Church Norton Wryneck, although it was not very obliging and stayed deep in cover for most of the time that I watched it. I had missed them on the spring migration so this was a welcome year tick for me.

I had hoped for a better picture but after about five minutes the bird dropped into the long grass to feed and had not reappeared when I left an hour later

Wryneck

There seems to have been a shortage of small birds around the hide and cemetery areas at Church Norton of late but today restored my faith in the area with multiple sightings of Redstarts and Spotted Flycatchers and also this Green Woodpecker feeding in the field behind the hide.

Green Woodpecker

Green Woodpecker

The Spotted Flycatchers and Redstarts all seemed to favour the barbed wire and fencing for perching up. It's probably convenient for them but it tends to spoil the pictures.

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Redstart

I had a look at the North Wall but with the recent heavy rain the Breech Pool was again overfull and there were no waders there. I caught glimpses of a single Spotted Flycatcher and a Wheatear but could not get pictures of either. Fortunately the Swallows were obliging even if they were favouring the barbed wire again.

Swallow

The following pictures were taken in a brief very wet stopover in Norfolk earlier in the week. The trip was more memorable for the birds I missed than for those I saw. In particular I had Booted Warbler, Icterine Warbler and Wryneck reported on Gramborough Hill just one mile from where I was staying.

Gramborough Hill - Not a big area to search for three rarities

It was getting dark and raining heavily when we arrived but I was up early and on site before 0600 the next morning. Unfortunately the rain had cleared in the night and the birds had flown. The best I managed was this distant Garden Warbler.

Garden Warbler

Other pictures taken included this Little Stint enjoying the rain, a couple of Pied Flycatchers and a few of the regulars.

Little Stint

Meadow Pipit

Pied Flycatcher

Ruff

It had been a disappointing week but one good bird like the Wryneck makes all the difference. Bring on the rest of the migration

Shooters Bottom Wryneck

We all marvel at the cryptic camouflage on the Wryneck but it wasn't good enough to save this one from the Sparrowhawk.

I had promised myself that I would do some work around the house on Tuesday but with the weather looking good and with reports from Monday of a Wryneck showing well over at Shooters Bottom I had a change of heart and by mid-morning I was on the road over to the Beachy Head area.

It didn't look very promising, there were a few birders about but no one had seen the Wryneck that morning. I ended up spending the rest of the day with David Gardiner and Paul Snellgrove who were very happy to tell me all about the close views they had the previous day and about all the great photographs they managed to get.

You should have been here yesterday - how many times have I heard that before. You can tell good bird photographers though, even with the great shots they already had, they were back the next day trying to improve on them.

Paul was convinced that the Wryneck had not departed in the night and who am I to argue with him, he has been birding a lot longer than I have and this was his patch. However by mid afternoon it still had not shown and we decided to widen the search area to see if it was feeding elsewhere.

Well, we did find it, but unfortunately the local Sparrowhawk had found it first. The Sparrowhawk had made a couple of passes over us earlier in the afternoon and thinking back on it, I believe I could hear it saying - too late boys I got it before you did, whose the best hunter around here.

So this is what I ended up with and I don't think I can claim it as a year tick.

Remains of the Wryneck

and this is the picture I should have taken. A real case of you should have been here yesterday.

Wryneck - Paul Snellgrove - taken the previous day

See more pictures on Flickr under icemelter4 and davidgardiner8. Not a great day as far as my pictures go but certainly not wasted, I picked up a lot of tips from a couple of patch experts.

Wryneck

Dave picked me up this morning. We had planned to go to Farlington Marsh to see the Wryneck and Osprey but an early morning report on SOS indicated that the Findon Wryneck was still around. This was closer and looked like the best option enabling us to move onto Farlington if we dipped out.

It also gave Dave the chance to drive by the Lloyd's building in Durrington and point out the Peregrines on the building. I drive past there regularly but had never managed to see them and had accused Dave of not knowing the difference between a Peregrine and a Pigeon. Previous attempts to prove me wrong had failed but this time I had to admit defeat it was definitely a Peregrine sitting on top of the black horse sign eating his breakfast.
.

Peregrine Falcon and breakfast - the close up is a bit gruesome

 On the walk through the gallops at Findon we spotted an obliging Whinchat. A bit annoying given how far I had walked the previous day looking for them.

Whinchat

The directions for the Wryneck were easy to follow but we were a bit surprised that there were not more birders searching the target area. We were starting to think that we could have made a mistake when we spotted Russ Tofts up ahead and he had already located the bird. It was quite close and we had the chance of a couple of quick shots before it retreated to the far side of the field.

Wryneck

 We then spent a couple of hours watching it sunning itself on the fence and dropping down to the ground to feed, all the while hoping it would come a bit closer. As we watched the heat haze was slowly increasing and the quality of the pictures gradually reducing until around lunch time it disappeared from sight, probably to find shelter in one of the bushes. The following are only record shots but they are the best from around one hundred and fifty almost identical shots that I took. Just as well that the we have moved on from film cameras.

Wryneck

It proved to be quite a good spot for birding. There were the usual Willchaffs on display and a number of Redstarts in the bushes. You just had to be prepared for inquisitive horses nudging you just as you are about to take the shot or trying to eat your rucksack or shirt.

Redstart

A successful day as far as a year tick for the Wryneck goes but I cannot help feeling that it was a missed opportunity on the photography front. Still if you got the perfect shot first time every time there would be very little to look forward to.