Sabine's Gull

 

It has probably been eleven years since I missed seeing a Sabine's Gull that was present on the Brighton seafront. I think it was only there for a day but the memory of having missed it, has been there in the back of my mind ever since. Then a report of one just over the border in Hampshire, a couple of days ago, gave an opportunity to purge the failure from my memory.

Fortunately I spotted the report whilst checking e-mails at six in the morning, just after getting up  to make an early morning cup of tea. By seven thirty I was standing on the sea wall at Southmoor Nature Reserve in Langstone Harbour waiting for the sun to come up.

It didn't look promising, it was cold and dark with the wind was gusting towards gale force and there were a lot of gulls in the area. Spotting one gull, amongst the hundreds in the reserve and on the sea, was proving difficult particularly with the scope moving about in the wind.

My luck was in though, the sun came out and one of the birders that turned up had seen it the day before and knew its favourite feeding area. Sure enough within a few minutes it made an appearance and started giving good views as it was dip feeding in the shallow water.

Even better it was a full adult in summer plumage with dark grey hood and yellow tipped bill so no problems with the identification.

Fortunately the bird was feeding in the pools inside the reserve so standing on the sea wall you had the sun behind you, although this then gave problems with high contrast levels.  So not perfect but certainly a lot better than the usual South Coast problem of having to photograph out to sea into a low winter sun.

I watched for about an hour hoping to get a picture of the distinctive upper wing pattern but it proved difficult to see.

The number of birders gradually increased with one of the photographers eventually stepping over the fence into the reserve to get a closer view. He was on his own for a time but the the second crossed the fence, then a third and in a short time most of the twitch was in the reserve on the edge of the pool.

To be fair the bird did not seem to be spooked in the time I watched but it did move further away. For new people turning up there was little choice. The view from the sea wall was obstructed by all the people in the reserve and to see the bird they all had to join the throng. Sad really, does anyone read the birdwatchers code these days, birding etiquette seems to have gone out of the window.

Fortunately I had seen enough and made my way back to the car. If the bird is still around in a few days time I might go back. There is always a better picture to be had.

A new Birding Year

 

In some ways 2022 was a disappointing year for bird watching, with only 160 different species seen in the UK. Looking back a few years the count could reach as high as 240. That is a significantly bigger number but then that did always include a weeks winter birding in Scotland and perhaps a willingness to travel further to see the birds.

This year I am determined to do better, if only by a modest degree, so I have set my target as 161. Something to aim for if I am ever lacking the motivation to get out into the countryside.

I can usually get the list off to a good start by spending an hour or so birding the back garden but this year has been a disaster. In a weeks garden birding I have recorded Herring Gull, Crow, Starling and Magpie, with the only small bird being two Blue Tits on the feeders. None of the Sparrows, Dunnocks, Thrushes, Great Tits, Green or Gold Finches or other occasional visitors that I was getting before Christmas. Even our garden Robin has gone AWOL. The Big Garden Birdwatch is going to be a bit of a let down this year.

Fortunately a trip down to Pagham Harbour got the numbers moving with thousands of ducks, waders and geese across the harbour. A really spectacular site when they all took to the air at once. A Peregrine or Sparrow Hawk would have been nice but it was only a light aircraft skimming the reserve.

As usual the waders were too distant for any decent pictures but the Snow Bunting was still present and in the same spot where I had seen it two months ago. By now it must be one of the most photographed birds in the country.

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

There were two female Goldeneye, one in the harbour and the other on the Lagoon and a Slavonian Grebe also out in the middle of the harbour.

Goldeneye

The Slavonian Grebe was a bit distant but still worth recording.

Slavonian Grebe

It was good to get the bird list moving a bit faster. The only wader I think I missed was the Whimbrel that has overwintered for the past few years. I must check to see if it is still with us. A couple of life ticks in the local area or perhaps a few Waxwings would be a good next step.

Pagham Snow Bunting

 

Whilst not a common bird Snow Buntings usually turn up somewhere local on the Sussex coast every year. If I am lucky it is within walking distance of home with Goring beach being a regular location. This year, with November drawing to a close and no local sightings, I had to travel down to Pagham Harbour for my year tick.

Snow Bunting

The Snow Bunting had been in the area for nearly two weeks and had been reported regularly so finding it should not have been so difficult. However, the bird is well camouflaged and can be difficult to locate when on its usual foraging area on the pebbles along the tide line. With most birds you would expect to flush them if you walk too close but with the Snow Bunting you usually have to be close enough to tread on it before it will move.

Snow Bunting

I searched the tideline along the spit a couple of times but could not locate it, so thinking it may have relocated to a different area over high tide, I decided to come back later. Fortunately on the way back to the car I met up with "Pagham Birder" who seemed mystified by my inability to find the Snow Bunting. We returned to the harbour wall where he quickly located it in its usual spot. 

My thanks to Trevor for the help but it's always a bit easier when you know where the usual spot is!

Snow Bunting

After a vey quiet autumn it was great to see the harbour starting to fill up with birds. Duck numbers where building nicely, with Brent Geese starting to arrive and flocks of waders circling around the harbour.

Particularly impressive where some large flocks of Knot roosting out on the shingle bars and harbour islands.

Knot

They were even more impressive in flight but it is always difficult to capture the scale and effect of the swirling flock in a still picture.

Knot

There were plenty of Stonechats along the spit but it was sad to see that the little lagoon had been eliminated by tidal movements and that the trees and bushes used for nesting by the linnet flock were now underwater.

Stonechat

There were Mergansers and a Slavonian Grebe in the harbour but having left the scope in the car I did not get to see them. 

Also interesting was a Sandwich Tern fishing in the harbour. It was probably a lot easier than attempting to find food on the rough sea beyond the spit. Its attempts proved successful and the shot below shows it flying off with a rather large fish.

Sandwich Tern

To finish, two of pictures of a Black-necked Grebe resident  for a short period  at the beginning of October on the lake at Brooklands Park. It is good to see that recent improvements there are turning it into a more promising area for nature.

Lets hope the Grebe is a sign of better things to come.

Autumn Moths

 

The garden mothing season is coming to an end. I have tried putting the trap out through the winter but I see very few moths and nothing of real interest. I also now have to contend with the thought of wasting all that electricity to power the trap for a potential zero return.

My total for the year to date is 297 species with around 215 of those being caught in the garden. Not bad given my urban location although I do benefit from being on the south coast and thus the chance of the occasional migrant species. 

Looking back , the year could have delivered a better total but with a cold spring I was off to a poor start and later in the year I didn't get the trap out as often as I would have liked.

Even so, the last two or three months have still proved to be interesting with a few new species for the garden list amongst the usual autumn regulars.

Bordered Straw - Heliothis peltigera 

European Corn Borer - Ostrinia nubilalis

Scarce Bordered Straw - Helicoverpa armigera

These first three are possible immigrant species although they may now be able to establish temporary colonies along the south coast.

Four-spotted Footman - Lithosia quadra

The Footman was caught in a spiders web. I rescued it but it didn't last very long. I'm never sure if I should intervene or just let nature take its course. Spiders have to live as well but not when a new garden tick is a stake.

Fern Smut - Psychoides filicivora

Little Ermel - Swammerdamia pyrella

Toadflax Pug - Eupithecia linariata

Plus two new species trapped whilst spending a night up in Suffolk.

Hedge Rustic - Tholera cespitis

Centre-barred Sallow - Atethmia centrago

Numbers wise, there were still some good mothing nights but each year this autumn period seems to be dominated by four species, Rush Veneers, Heart and Dart, Light Brown Apple Moths, and the various Yellow Underwings. Most are in poor condition and emptying the trap in the morning can be a real disappointment.

Perhaps the only good news is that the number of Box Tree moths has fallen drastically this year, although this is probably because their food plant has all but disappeared in the area.

Some of the more interesting moths in the garden trap are shown below

Clancy’s Rustic - Caradrina kadenii

Common Marbled Carpet - Chloroclysta truncata

Flounced Rustic - Luperina testacea

Garden Tiger - Arctia caja

Green Carpet - Colostygia pectinataria

Peach Blossom - Thyatira batis

Pebble Hook-tip - Drepana falcataria

Plumed Fan-foot - Pechipogo plumigeralis

Red-green Carpet - Chloroclysta siterata

Satin Wave - Idaea subsericeata

and a Carnation Tortrix from Pagham Harbour.

Carnation Tortrix - Cacoecimorpha pronubana

One final moth, found waiting for me by the front door when we came home yesterday afternoon, a Vapourer. Most years I see plenty of them flying around the garden during the day. This year just one in early July and this one mid November.

Vapourer - Orgyia antiqua

Red-backed Shrike

 

The mantra is - see the bird, get a record shot, get a quality picture. Quality pictures being the real objective and they are few and far between. I have probably only ever seen half a dozen Red-backed Shrikes but in my gallery of those shots, deemed as quality keepers, I have more pictures of them than of any other species.

They are a bird that seems to have little fear of humans or disturbance. They tend to establish small territories to which they stay loyal for days or even weeks and they sit out in the open for long periods at easy eye or camera level. If you can't get a decent picture, then it's probably time to give up on the photography. 

The juvenile recently reported at Medmerry proved to be equally obliging

Most birds seen in the UK these days are on migration passage but they were once a common breeding bird in this country.

A report - The past and present status of the Red-backed Shrike in Great Britain (Peakall, 1962) gave evidence of the decline of the bird as a breeding population. It is now virtually extinct in this country as a breeding species and is a Red List schedule 1 bird.

Egg collectors got some of the blame for the loss of the last few birds but the report suggests that the warmer, wetter summers lead to smaller numbers of large flying insects and therefore to a decrease of those species of birds which specialise in preying upon them. 

This does not bode well for some other species, likely to re- establish themselves here, that would be seeking the same prey - White Stork, Black Stork, Roller, Hoopoe and possibly Bee Eater. Lets hope the warmer dryer summers we are now experiencing increase the populations of these larger insects although I have my doubts given the continuing decline I see about me

I did also get to see the Buff-breasted Sandpiper whilst I was at Medmerry. I also took a picture but at 400 metres and with a heat haze it hardly even qualifies as a record shot. Fortunately the view through the scope, the location and the Jizz were enough to convince me.

Why can't all birds present themselves like the Red-backed Shrike?