Pearl-bordered Fritillary

An hour at Mill Hill NR on the 25th had got the butterfly list off to a good start with ten species recorded in just over an hour. I didn't manage to photograph them all but at least I got plenty of exercise chasing the Brimstones and Orange tips on the steep slopes.

Best finds of the day, Small Copper and Green Hairstreak. Unexpected were a couple of Wall which I had not recorded at this site before. More worrying was the lack of Grizzled Skippers, usually guaranteed at Mill Hill. Perhaps it was just too cold for them.

Dingy Skipper

Green Hairstreak

Speckled Wood

Wall

We followed this up with our annual pilgrimage to Rewell Wood to see the Pearl-bordered Fritillary. Somehow this always feels like the start of the butterflying season.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Underwing view of the Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

We also had a supporting cast of Grizzled Skipper, a butterfly I had missed at Mill Hill, and a good number of Orange-tips. Picture below is of a female, I don't think I saw a male stationary all day.

Grizzled Skipper

Female Orange-tip

Underside of the female Orange-tip

Although Duke of Burgundy have been reported from some locations I haven't seen any on the local patch. Heyshott Down always seems to be a week in front of other sites. No Blues seen yet either.

Early Spider Orchid

I dabbled a bit with Orchid hunting last year but truth be told I have never really understood the obsessive nature of the orchid hunt. It's not like a bird, butterfly or other insect where you have to use field craft, it doesn't even move. Then today, I found myself laid out full length in the pouring rain, desperately trying to get a photograph before the wind and the rain flattened the specimen I had found. Perhaps I am beginning to understand!

Our first Orchid hunt of the year and I went home with three life ticks, Early Purple, Green-winged and Early Spider.

First stop was Lancing Ring for the Early Purple Orchids. We found a few specimens but this is a much used and abused site. A car park gives easy access and family picnics, children enjoying the area and dog walkers, have resulted in a worn and tired environment and certainly somewhere where you need to carry out a detailed inspection before you get face down on the ground to get a picture.

Next stop Anchor Bottom, a great place to visit, for most of the spring and summer, for flowers and butterflies. The Green-winged Orchids are on the north facing slope with hundreds of specimens visible. Just a pity we got caught in a cloud burst whilst we were viewing them.

Lots of purple and pink variants but we couldn't find any white.

Our last stop for the day was at Castle Hill Nature Reserve, one of the last remaining fragments of chalk downland and probably the best site in the country for the Early Spider Orchid.  Natural England reports 50,000 plants at this site, we didn't count them. There were certainly a lot visible but don't get the impression that they are easy to find. This is a small flower spike and a dull flower and is restricted to a small part of the reserve. Look for the pale green stems rather than the flower. Once you locate the right area and get your "eye in" they are all around you.

We also found Early Purple Orchids towards the top of the slopes. This was a very exposed site compared to the more sheltered Lancing Ring area and it showed in stunted growth and generally weathered specimens. However, find a fresh growth or sheltered spot and there were some delightful orchids waiting to be photographed.

The challenge of the orchid hunt is not so much in the finding of the plant on the day as in the research in working out when and where to look. I think I might be adding a few more to the list this year.

Dotterel

I haven't posted much lately, which really sums up my year to date. I have probably seen the same number of birds as usual but the picture opportunities have been few and far between. Unfortunately that goes for the Dotterel as well. Seen it, but only managed a really poor record shot of a distant bird. However, as it's a lifer for me, poor as it is, it does get published.

Dotterel

I have spent a good few days, in the past, wandering around the Sussex Downs hoping to see them. The Balsdean area is said to be a regular stopping off point but it hasn't worked for me. Seen plenty of Wood Pigeons up there but no Dotterel. A one off visit to the Chosely Drying Barns in Norfolk also proved fruitless. I was getting to the point of thinking I would have to try a long distance (for me) twitch up to Pendel Hill or Danby Beacon to see them. Then last week there were reports of a pair of Dotterel showing well at Cheesefoot Head just over the border in Hampshire.

Showing well they may have been but not on the day I visited. I had great hopes of a decent picture. This is a bird that is said to have little fear of people and that can be easily approached. This pair where in the middle of a crop field at least a hundred metres away, they weren't moving and I wasn't about to risk being labelled as a selfish togger for trespassing over the crop. Sad world that we live in!

I saw the male Garganey at Waltham Brooks. Good, but brief views, as it weaved in and out of cover along the bank side. It didn't seem to be bothered by my presence and gradually worked its way closer to my position. I thought I was doing well until I raised the camera and it immediately took off for the back of the pool.

A visit to Pulborough Brooks doesn't usually give many good picture opportunities but this time it was rescued by a couple of good views of Jays, never an easy bird to get close to.

Jay - at the bottom of the zigzags

Jay - just to the east of the Hanger

A Skylark concludes my meagre collection of photographs for the last month.

Probably my worst month since I started birding. I don't think its the birds, it's not the camera, so it must be me. Must try harder, if Tiger Woods can make a come back then so can I.

Glossy Ibis

It has all been a bit slow on the birding front. Dave and I made our annual trip looking for a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and had our usual result, one heard but none seen. The location chosen this year was Burnham Beeches. Plenty of Great Spotted around and drumming and one bird sounding good for a Lesser Spotted but we couldn't get eyes on it.

We did get Red-crested Pochard on Stockers lake but no picture. The Lesser Spotted takes priority so we don't usually get to Stockers until around midday and the Pochards always seem to be taking a siesta on one of the islands. Had to make do with a Goldeneye.

Goldeneye

with a half hearted attempt to impress the ladies

I had a better day out on Tuesday. A long walk around the Wrens Warren area was not looking very promising but just as I was about to leave I had sight of the Great Grey Shrike. It was distant and did not stay perched for long but at least I saw it. The pictures were nowhere near as good as those we had back in October. This time the bird seemed much more flighty and did not return to the perch I had found it on, as it had been happy to do the last time we saw it. It is probably starting to think about migrating back to Scandinavia.

Flushed with success I decided to head down to the Cuckmere to have a look for the Glossy Ibis. This one was a lot easier to find. It was visible from the road just to the east of the Exceat bridge and north of the road, foraging with a small flock of Teal. Again the bird was distant but with no cover or easy access I just took a couple of record shots from the road and left it in peace.

Glossy Ibis

Fortunately I had seen a tweet from Matt Eade reporting three Water Pipits just north of the Cuckmere bridge and I also managed to get views of  at least two of these as well as a number of Rock Pipits that were also in the area.


And finally, today, I managed to catch up with the two White-fronted Geese at Pulborough Brooks, at what was probably my fifth or sixth attempt. Very distant as things always seem to be at Pulborough and seemingly still associating with the Canada Geese so perhaps a little suspect.

Hooded Crow

The birding has been a bit slow this past week but I was eventually tempted down to Pagham Harbour to look for the Hooded Crow. It, or another one like it, had been reported regularly from the Medmerry site over the past couple of months but locating it there was pure luck.

With reports of a Hooded Crow on Pagham Spit the chances of success looked a bit more favourable and with a Sussex tick on offer it was worth making the trip.

Arriving early morning with the sun shining, the tide out, and no dog walkers in sight the prospects looked promising, although the area of beach to search did surprise me. Last time I was there it had mostly been washed away and the beach houses were under threat of disappearing into the sea.

After inspecting a few Carrion Crows I eventually found the Hoodie foraging by itself by the edge of a tidal pool. It let me approach to a reasonable distance but then when I tried to get closer started walking away to maintain a safe distance. Not too bad though, particularly as I had the light behind me.

I thought it would eventually get comfortable with me being there and I would get a better shot but just as it seemed to be gaining confidence the inevitable dog appeared over the top of the beach and the bird took flight landing on the Church Norton Spit on the other side of the harbour breach. Fifty yards for the bird, a twelve mile drive and half an hours walk for me.

There were other birds about but all a bit distant. The Peregrines were sitting on their island. Worth recording but just too far away for a good shot.

Fortunately I had another target. When I parked the car I had flushed a single Golden Plover from the shingle at the side of the Pagham Lagoon. It seemed reluctant to fly, or perhaps unable to fly and after a couple of record shots I left it in peace. Returning to the car two hours later it was still there so using the car as a hide I was able to get a few better shots.

It seemed healthy enough and was moving around without difficulty but this is a flock bird. I am not sure why it was by itself and or why it was reluctant to fly. It's not usually a good sign.

A few other shots  -  the long staying and very reliable Church Norton Whimbrel.

And a couple from a disappointing trip down to Dungeness. Ruff at Scotney Pit and  male Smew on Burrows Pit

The Smew was very mobile and in windy conditions I couldn't get a decent shot even though I tracked it around the various pits for most of the morning.

I also managed to see Tree Sparrows, Cattle Egret, a Great White Egret and probably the Whooper Swans. The later were in the right place, just north of Cockles Bridge feeding with the Mutes. I could see yellow on the bill but they were just too distant to be certain particularly as there were a number of Bewicks in the area.