Pectoral Sandpiper but mostly Butterflies

It looked like a Pectoral Sandpiper through the telescope, all the experts in the hide said it was a Pectoral Sandpiper, ergo, it probably was a Pectoral Sandpiper. So why am I unhappy. The answer - because I could not get a good picture, that convinced me 100% when I got home, that I had the identification right.

Pectoral Sandpiper - Pulborough Brooks

Pectoral Sandpiper

Both shots have huge crops and over sharpening and are at the limits of the cameras capabilities. They are also very similar to those that I managed to capture the last time I saw a  Pectoral Sandpiper. Looking at Collins I have; slightly de-curved bill, good demarcation between breast and belly with breast markings coming to a point, one side of white V on its back, neat scaly pattern on upper part feathers. I also have a pale based bill on another equally obscure shot.

I guess the confidence levels are better than 95% so I will probably count it.

Water levels were low around the reserve. Birds are starting to return but they need more rain and plenty of mud.

After seeing a report last week of Emerald Damselflies, Black Darters and Brown Hawkers on Black Pond I decided to have a look. What a difference a week makes. None of them there that I could see, but there were Emperors, Broad-bodied Chasers and Ruddy Darters present.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Ruddy Darter

The pond was drying up, but there were still four Emperors managing to patrol what looked like very small territories and without too much conflict. Even with it being easier to predict where they would be flying I still failed to get a decent picture of any of them and they seemed reluctant to move away from the pond to settle.

There were plenty of butterflies around Pulborough but I wanted to check out Houghton Forest and I thought it might be a bit cooler under the trees. I was also hoping to see a Purple Emperor which had been reported there.

Houghton did not disappoint, except for the Purple Emperor, with Small, Large, and Green-veined Whites, Silver Washed Fritillary, Comma, Peacock, Red Admirals, Brimstones and various Blues. I was feeling quite pleased and was even more so when I got home and found both Peacocks and a Painted Lady on the Lavender in the garden.

Comma

Large White

Silver-washed Fritillary

Silver-washed Fritillary

Common Blue on Birds-foot Trefoil

Brimstone

Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Peacock

Peacock

Irish Birding

Whilst the birding has started to improve of late my photography seems to have taken a real nose dive. I have seen some good birds, but most of my shots have been taken at a distance and in this hot dry weather the air quality and heat haze have had a devastating effect on picture quality. The trouble is that I know this and I should have been spending more time getting closer to the birds.

Still this is a diary of what I have seen and photographed so you get the bad as well as the good.

The first success was the Turtle Dove which had been at the top of my hit list for a couple of months. I had looked at various sites and despite hearing them on a number of occasions there had been no sightings. My luck changed when I picked up Dave and we headed over to Pagham North Wall. It was all very quiet on the wall but we did manage to spot the Turtle Dove in the trees by Honer Farm. The bird was very mobile though and despite waiting a long time we could only get distant shots.

Turtle Dove

Dave was only carrying a 400mm lens but his pictures looked better than the ones I had taken using a 500mm and 1.4 converter. Heat haze, air quality, or just better skills?

I then headed off on a touring and walking holiday with the wife taking in Pembrokeshire and the South and West of Ireland. It was not a birding trip but I did have a target list and was intending to get a few hours birding along the way.

Pembrokeshire gave the first opportunity when we spotted Chough whilst walking over Stackpole Head.

Chough - It looks as though Junior still wants to be fed!

You can actually see the heat haze in the back of this shot

 Dave had told me to look out for Black Guillemot when we arrived at Rosslare Harbour and sure enough there was one there albeit a bit distant.

Black Guillimot

 One thing that I had not expected in Ireland was a complete roll reversal of Crows and Rooks. A Hooded Crow was top of my target list and I assumed that it would be easy to get a good picture of these as with Crows back home. In practice they seemed very shy and wary of anyone approaching them. The Rooks however had filled the vacant slot of picnic scavengers and were quiet happy to have their pictures taken.

Rook - beautifully groomed for the photo shoot

Hooded Crow - looking a bit tatty

Definitely does not want his picture taken

 There were lots of Terns about. We looked at the Tern Colony at Lady's Island Lake hoping to see a Roseate Tern. No luck with that but there was an Arctic Tern that ventured close enough for a picture.

Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern

And, sitting on the beach one evening we watched a long procession of close on a hundred Sandwich Terns fly past carrying Sand Eels. I assume they were also heading for Lady's Island Lake but the odd thing was that there was not a single Common Tern amongst them.

Sandwich Tern

We spent a few days around the Killarney National Park and the Cork and Kerry peninsulas and I spent most of the time with one eye on the sky waiting for a White-tailed Eagle to appear. I had one slight panic when a couple of ravens drifted over a hill we were climbing but that is the closest that I got.

Lots of the usual small birds about and lots of Juveniles in confusing plumage. I got some nice pictures but I am still trying to work out what they are.

No black Guillimots as we left Rosslare, so I was unable to improve on my record shot taken on the way in, but I was tipped off that the Tuskar Rock Lighthouse, just off the coast, was a good area to look out for Manx Shearwaters. Sure enough there were lots flying about. Most were distant but I did manage a couple of decent shots before the boat disappeared into a fog bank.

Manx Shearwater

My overall impression of birding in Ireland. There are not so many species about and some of the sites are hard to find or access but overall nature is having a better time of it over there. There were far more birds and butterflies about than I see in England.

Dragonflies and Damselflies part 2

Out looking for Turtle Doves again on Monday. Tried the Arlington Reservoir area again but no luck and not many birds of any sort. My plan B for the day, was a visit to the Park Corner Heath Butterfly Reserve, but that proved to be a bit of a disappointment as well with just a couple Meadow Browns seen.

I headed for home with only a couple of pictures of Demoiselles from Arlington. These are both females. The first is clearly a Beautiful Demoiselle showing the brown tint on the wings being enhanced by sunlight. The second could be a Banded as it appears to have narrower wings and is showing a slight green tint, but this probably comes from the foliage around it and there were no other Bandeds about.

Beautiful Demoiselle Female

Demoiselle Female -  Beautiful or Banded?

 

It looked like a bit of a wasted day, but fortunately I used the lanes at the back of the Downs to get home and ended up at Woods Mills. I knew the pond had been drained to clear out the fish but thought it would still be worth a look. Better luck this time as there were  Dragonflies in the remnants of the pond and Demoiselles in some of the drainage channels.

Azure Blue Damselfly

Downy Emerald

Large Red Damselfly

Tuesday morning and I was sitting at home having decided that I was not going out unless I could find some birds to photograph. Then Dave called to say he knew of a pond with Black-tailed Skimmers and Red-eyed Damselflies and did I fancy a look. How could I resist such an invitation?

The Skimmers proved hard to photograph. They stayed still long enough but they favoured the muddy banks so were hard to separate from their background. We tried  putting out some perches but the Skimmers ignored them. When I got home I found that they will only perch on low vegetation when the temperature gets above 26 degrees. Another good example of the benefits of doing the research before you go instead of when you get back.

I did get one on a low perch but still could not get the separation from the background.

Black-tailed Skimmer

Most shots were on the mud or low rocks.

Black-tailed Skimmer

The Red-eyed Damselflies were a bit easier to photograph but they were in a very small area of Lilly pads and did not move about much.

Red-eyed Damselfly

Red-eyed Damselfly

We also had a look for Golden-ringed Dragonflies on one of the commons. We had possible sightings but nothing definite and no picture opportunities. There were also a couple of Emperors about but both were very mobile.

On the way home we called in at Stopham Bridge. There were lots of Banded Demoiselles there and a single Dragonfly that looked like a Southern Hawker but it did not come close enough for a photograph.

Banded Demoiselle

A great day out and I am learning a lot about Dragons and Damsels but I really need some birds to photograph.

Redstart

There are a couple of places in the Ashdown Forest where Turtle Doves have been seen in previous years. With this bird still at the top of my target list I thought I would spend a day wandering around the forest and if nothing else I should be able to pick up a Redstart at the Old Lodge Nature Reserve.

I tried a few different locations. There were birds about but they were mostly Willow Warbler types or the common Tits and the best I saw in the morning were a couple of Coal Tits and a fly over Buzzard.

The Butterflies were also thin on the ground. A few Speckled Woods and what I at first thought was a Large White. Its flight looked unusual though, so I checked it out and it turned out to be a female Brimstone. I had seen males before and they are  an easily identified sulphur yellow colour. This was a much paler greenish white and very difficult to spot once it landed in amongst the tree leaves.

Female Brimstone hiding behind a couple of blades of grass

On most of the tree leaves the camouflage was perfect and the butterfly virtually impossible to spot. It was only on the darker green and distinctive shape of the Oak leaves that I got a chance of a picture.

Not quite as well camouflaged on the Oak leaves

I was hoping for a picture of the top of the wings but checking it out when I got home I found that it never sits with its wings open.

In the afternoon I headed over to Old Lodge to look for Redstarts. I could not find any adult birds but there were a few young about.

Juvenile Redstart

A bit more colour on this one so it may be the female

 

Showing the rusty tail

I got a little bit confused when the next bird appeared in the shot as there was no rusty tail, but this looks more like a juvenile Stonechat.

Juvenile Stonechat

and there was an adult close by

Female Stonechat

I searched around for a while but could not find a male Redstart and walking around the perimeter there were very few other birds visible, although I was serenaded by a Peacock from one of the adjacent gardens.

On the ponds there were a few Dragonfly active and I managed to get a picture of an Emperor Dragonfly. Its a pity about the background but this is the first time I have seen one grounded so any picture is a bonus.

Emperor Dragonfly

No Turtle Dove again and I am running out of places to look. Probably find that if I give up looking, one will turn up on the feeders in the back garden.

Dartford Warblers and Others

The birding is proving to be hard work at the moment. The end of June through to early August is always slow. There is no migration movement, there is plenty of cover for the birds to hide in, and the birds are not displaying for territory or mates as they were a month ago. This summer seems worse than ever and my own experience would seem to suggest that a lot of the birds have simply not arrived this year.

I commented in a previous post on how I had only seen two Stonechats so far this year. Like buses the next time I went out I saw at least eight in the same location on Iping Common.

Male Stonechat

Juvenile Stonechat

Hoping for a repeat performance - I have only seen one Redstart and have not seen a Spotted Flycatcher at all. If I could also add Turtle Dove to that list I could be a happy man after my next trip out.

I would have added Dartford Warbler to that list but I did manage to catch up with a pair on one of the commons. I had caught a couple of fleeting glimpses at the same location but did not feel that it was good enough for my year tick particularly as on both occasions the birds did not reappear. Fortunately on a recent early evening visit I was able to watch the pair gathering food for about half an hour. I kept my distance and with poor lighting the picture opportunities were limited. The shot below rescued by heavy cropping and from strong back lighting was the best I could manage.

Another almost picture - One in the bush and one flying

I also visited Warnham LNR. There was nothing unusual about in the way of avian life but I had some really weird lighting conditions. All my pictures appeared to have a colour cast but when you look at them they have both green and magenta in the same picture. This cannot happen as they are opposite ends of the spectrum (as far as Photoshop is concerned) and anyway the whites look clean. Even when desaturated as in the second picture the colours look wrong. Marvellous things the eyes, the scenes all looked perfectly normal to me on the day.

Great Crested Grebe

Young Grey Heron

This young Grey Heron looks like a nice friendly bird, not like the older version below, a true predator.

Grey Heron - Pagham North Wall

Also at the North Wall a Common Tern but not much else.

Common Tern

I did walk down to the lagoon to see the Female Scaup that had been reported there but I seem to have picked the one day when there were no sightings.

Actually there was one other sighting. The local police checking out the north wall, the lagoon, and the spit, and challenging one suspicious individual out on the mud. Given the recent vandalism to the spit hide this can only be seen as positive.

Patrolling the Harbour

Do this every day and he is going to have an impressive year list in his note book.

When the birding has been slow I have been adding to my collection of Butterfly and Dragonfly pictures although it is only in the last couple of weeks that the butterflies have started to appear in any numbers.

Another Four Spotted Chaser

Silver-studded Blue

Speckled Wood

Small Tortoiseshell

Adonis Blue

There have been some missed shots as well. An Emperor Dragonfly, a truly impressive species, that did not land in all the time I watched it. I took about fifty shots of it in flight but there is not a single decent shot amongst them. Also  a Green Hairstreak, searched for but not found. Next time perhaps.