Yellow-browed Warbler

 

I went looking for the Yellow-browed Warbler at the Patching Sewage Works on Tuesday. It was part of a hyperactive flock consisting of two Firecrests, probably half a dozen Goldcrests and a number of Chiffchaffs including at least one possible Siberian. Seeing it was easy enough but getting a good shot was near impossible.

Checking my pictures later that evening I think I did get one picture of it, as below. Yellow supercilium, dark eye stripe, brown legs rather than the Chiffchaffs black and the hint of a pale wing-bar, but without getting the double wing bar in the shot, I cannot be sure. There was a good picture of it published on Twitter which was a close match, even showing the thin brown line breaking the supercilium just behind the eye.

Am I happy - no - I want a better record shot. If it stops raining I will have to go back for another go.

Possible Yellow-browed Warbler

One bonus from the visit was that I picked up a half decent shot of a Firecrest. Another bird that I see often enough but rarely manage to photograph.

Firecrest

Other pictures taken recently

Marsh Tit

Siskin

Skylark

Spotted Redshank

Wren

Red-legged Partridge

And a couple more of the Barn Owl from  a revisit on Tuesday evening.

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

It was good to see the Barn Owl again but the lighting was not so good and most of the pictures were blurred or grainy.

Barn Owl

 

A walk on the downs north of the Burgh had not proved to be very rewarding. A small flock of Yellowhammers, lots of Chaffinches, the rear ends of a few Grey Partridges and some distant Red Kites and Buzzards. Poor return for the distance covered but on approaching the dew pond, on the return leg, a Short-eared Owl perched in a distant tree did at least offer picture opportunities.

Short-eared Owl

Distant it was and distant it stayed, quartering the field but not really coming any closer. Fortunately the photographic session was rescued by a much more obliging Barn Owl that appeared on the scene.

Barn Owl

The owl made a number of passes hunting along the hedge lines and the edges of the set asides. Barn Owls are said to have poor eyesight but on daylight hunts they always seem to favour the sun coming over their shoulder, so perhaps using sight to supplement their usual location of prey by sound. 

Whatever the reason I usually end up with about ninety percent of the photographs with burnt out wings and bodies and with faces in deep shadow. Fortunately this one stayed around long enough for me to get a few reasonable shots.

The picture above had to be included. The owl got the pose just right but the picture does not quite make the grade. The eye and claws are sharp but the wings are blurred on the top edges and the picture will not stand much enlargement.

It is also amazing to see how small the owls body is in comparison to its head and legs, although I guess the head, as seen here, is mostly made up of feathers.

Barn Owls are the most widespread species of owl in the world. Twenty to thirty subspecies are recognised by the various authorities, with the one found in Western Europe being Tyto alba. Strange then, that the owl is recognised as being a nocturnal feeder in Europe but is regularly seen feeding during daylight hours in the UK. 

Whatever the reason for its daytime appearances, it is a welcome sight and a great bird to photograph.

Blinged up Redshank

 

Given the lockdown and the restrictions on travel, the bird list for this year, sitting at 98 half way through February, doesn't look too bad. It is perhaps more interesting for what is missing from it, than for what is in it. No Greylag Goose, no Owls, no Great Spotted Woodpecker and lots of other common birds missing, Blackcap, Jay, Water Rail, Bar-tailed Godwit, Snipe, Kittiwake, Fulmer, Spotted Redshank, Fieldfare. I know where to look for them and would probably have seen them all by this point in a normal year but I am just not getting out to see them.

I have, however, managed to get a few pictures whilst out on exercise walks. That being despite the only days with decent light for photography, being so cold that it was difficult to hold the camera. The metal casings just seem to suck the heat out of your fingers.

It was good to capture this Redshank just off the seawall at Farlington Marsh. Pete Potts who ringed it at Farlington back in September 2020 supplied a history which showed that it had been seen at Farlington twice more during that September but then not again until my sighting on the 22nd of January.

The secret life of birds. You have to wonder where it has been for the past four months.

Redshank with colour rings.

One bird that I did go looking for was the White-fronted Goose. This is not a bird that I see every year and I usually have to go over to Pett Levels or Scotney Pit to see it. This year it was to be found in big numbers all along the south coast. That is everywhere and big numbers except for all the places I visited. I always seemed  to be a day late but I did eventually manage to catch up with a family group. One benefit of the pandemic is that this is the first time I have ever recorded it on what I would consider as my home patch.

White-fronted Goose

And a Kestrel from the same walk

Kestrel

The River Adur offers another interesting birding walk close to home although the paths can get a little crowded with dog walkers and family groups. It offers the usual dilemma, travel further and find isolation or exercise close to home and dodge the crowds.

It was a bit grey and murky that day but I did see a few good birds and add a few year ticks to the list.

Common Sandpiper

Female Goosander

Little Grebe launching into the wind.

Ringed Plovers about to be dislodged by the rising tide.

Unfortunately there was no sign of the Peregrine(s) sitting on the cement works chimney. That will have to be one for another day.

I also spent a couple of hours on the coldest morning of the year on a sea watch. The idea was to get a few pictures of passing birds to take home and work on my identification skills. Not the best choice of days. In two hours I had two Cormorants, three distant Gannets and a couple of black dots that proved to be pixel size on the pictures.

Not a lot learnt in the way of identification skills but an interesting experience and I will be trying it again.

Cormorants

The weather forecast is for warm winds from the Mediterranean areas so we could see a few early migrants over the next week or so. I hope they don't come to early, the last cold spell will have already taken a heavy toll on some of the overwintering birds.

Melanistic Sparrow

Well it looks like a Sparrow, perhaps with a hint of Spanish Sparrow thrown in or possibly it was feeding whilst standing in blue ink. More likely it is a form of plumage aberration probably an excess of melanin pigment although the distribution with it affecting only the lower breast feathers looks a bit odd. Whatever the cause it had me checking bird identifications just to be sure. Sadly it is not a rarity.

Looking more like a House Sparrow in the second picture. The bird was seen, close to the feeders at the Pulborough Brooks Wildlife Meadow.

Have since seen a comment that the black belly feathers are caused by parasites eating away the feathers whilst the bird is still in the nest.

A mostly dull day on Monday found me exercising around Medmerry in the hope of seeing the White-fronted Geese. No luck there, although they were photographed by someone else as they were flying between the harbour and the reserve. There were hundreds of Brent geese feeding in the fields with large skeins of them flying over late afternoon as I assume they were heading in to roost. I didn't see my target but the exercise probably did me good and I now have the opportunity to go back and do it all over again.

Lots of birds seen although picture opportunities were limited. Some birds still worth recording and nice to be able to finish off with a really stunning Sanderling.

Black-tailed Godwits

Greenshank in glorious colour

Sanderling

Lets hope the white fronts stay on for a few more days.

Red Kite

 

It has been a while since I last wrote a blog. My new Years resolution was to be all around getting out more, taking more pictures, and writing more blogs. Then the third lockdown came along and my resolution was blown apart. I couldn't even find any interesting insects in the garden to write about.

I usually take my daily exercise close to home but I have manged a few short trips into the countryside, carrying the camera to record obliging birds and a sandwich which I always eat on the move so it doesn't count as a picnic!

It has resulted in a slow start to the birding year but there have been a few good opportunities. Probably the best being this perched up Red Kite. I first saw it at a distance and took a couple of record shots then gradually moved closer taking pictures as I went, all the time expecting it to take flight.

Red Kite

There wasn't much cover around but then with raptors and Owls I have usually found it best to stay out in the open rather than try to creep up on them. You just have to take a zig-zag approach and take your time, stopping regularly and pretending to be a sheep. It watched me closely but did not seem concerned. I took around fifty shots as I approached. These last two being at around twenty metres where I was stopped by a barbed wire fence.

I was then backing off slowly, happily surfing the shots on the back of the camera, when the kite had the last laugh by making a low pass over my head whilst I was looking the wrong way. Probably just it's way of warning me off its territory and of making it clear who was in control.

Red Kite

A walk around Shoreham Fort and Harbour gave me this female Black Redstart in the boatyard but not sightings of the Purple Sandpipers that frequent the pier or of the Dartford Warbler that has been seen along the beach walk.

Black Redstart

A couple of weeks before Christmas I had been over to Marsh Farm at Sidlesham to look for the Richards Pipit. I did see it and I did get a picture but the bird was distant and there were frequent bursts of torrential rain,  so the pictures were poor.

Richard's Pipit

I went back in early January with the idea of getting a better picture and of adding it to the new year bird list but I was a day too late. It was seen the day before I went but has not been reported since. Still a walk over from Pagham and around the farm and Sidlesham area, gave a substantial boost to my new year list.

It is strange to recall that ten years ago Cattle Egrets were rare birds and I would travel miles in an attempt to see one. Now they are a common bird on the Selsey peninsular. This one amongst twenty plus feeding in one of the Marsh Farm fields.

Cattle Egret

Long-tailed Tit

Song Thrush

Stonechat

Also, whilst passing through Arundel I decided to stop off for a walk around Swanbourne Lake to look for the Mandarin Ducks. It was probably the riskiest walk I have taken all year. Arundel was packed with cars and people and there were groups feeding the ducks, walking and picnicking all around the lake. Fortunately the Mandarins prefer the more secluded areas.

There is no doubt, that the countryside and a few hours out (socially distanced) birding, can make all the difference during these difficult times.