Wheatears again!

A bit of a chequered week on the birding front. Sitting on a park bench at Little Common paid dividends in the form of a high level fly by of the juvenile Black Stork - well worth seeing. Onward to Dungeness where I managed to locate one of the juvenile White-winged Black Terns plus several other Black Terns. Success which was paid for in the much delayed journey home. 

Wednesday was a visit to the North Wall at Pagham where things seemed to be very quiet, and just the opposite at Church Norton where the volunteers were cutting the grass in the cemetery and the RSPB gardeners were in the field next to the hide. A vigil on the beach, just in case the Wryneck was still in residence, gave no reward.

Thursday left me with a dilemma - where to go? In the end I returned to the North Wall at Pagham, not because I expected the birding to have improved, rather than face the diabolical traffic situation to the east. Also, on our previous visit, I had noticed a veritable cornucopia of blackberries and sloes and I couldn't miss the annual "forage".

When I arrived at the North Wall I met Owen Mitchell and Peter Callis, both reporting that there was little to be seen. Over on Halsey's there was a large herd of cattle and I thought there would be a good chance of Yellow Wagtails that would offer a photo opportunity. On the way I managed to capture a good looking male Wheatear on the seaward side rocks. In the pool the successful brood of Tufted Ducks watched me warily as I passed by on the upper path. One of the juniors displaying a wacky hairdo and had obviously found his voice.

At the western sluice I spooked a very bright Kingfisher that paused briefly before heading off west along the stream. Looking out over the fields I located the cattle, all lying down in one corner and chewing the cud. Yellow Wagtails were in evidence  and as I approached they flew off, very skittish indeed. I sat down in the middle of some 60 beasts, their digestive processes getting the better of their curiosity as they left me alone. The wagtails returned - three or four at a time but none came close.

I returned to the harbour via Owl Copse where I encountered a superb male Redstart, loads of Common Whitethroats and several Lesser Whitethroats. The tide was now on the up and birds were relocating. At Breech Pool I had a raptor show, one of the juvenile Peregrines doing two stoops from a tremendous altitude, both of which proved fruitless. A Hobby was leading the Swallows a merry dance above the stables, superb aerobatics through the trees but unfortunately no lunch for him. 

Then a "bird of prey" of an altogether different kind put on a display, Spitfire KJ-I performing aerobatics, but not quite the standard of the Hobby.

 

 Several Wheatears were now on the wall and of course I couldn't ignore them.

The previous day the Swallows had been perching on the rails above the sluice and I thought I might improve my shots, Sod's Law prevailed, they had moved on to some far more comfortable perch elsewhere.

Out and About

Birding on a Saturday is unusual for me, I much prefer to be out and about on weekdays when there are fewer people around. But! today there was a choice of two twitches, Farlington Marshes offering 95% chance of Ospreys and Saltdean offering a 5% possibility of Dotterel. Our strategy was to venture west to Farlington and to keep a weather eye on Rare Bird Alert just in case someone discovered the proverbial needle in the haystack.

Farlington was fairly quiet, a few cars in the car park, perhaps the dark grey clouds on the horizon, which promised squally heavy rain, were keeping people at home. Additionally, the temperature was noticeably cooler than of late. We made our way past the "shed" to the east side, few birds were about on the marsh and fewer flying. Arriving at  the harbour we scanned all the islands, particularly North Binness but no Osprey, we continued and completed a circuit of the marsh, noting Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Meadow Pipit and a "charm" of Goldfinches. Luck was on our side as we caught the tail end of a shower leaving us only slightly damp. It must have been quiet as neither of us took our cameras from the case.

Next up was a visit to Budd's Farm sewage works, a place I have been intending to visit since last year. Scanning the lagoons gave all the usual suspects - Gadwall, Tufted, Mallard and sharp-eyed Martin picked out a single Shoveler.  One last scan of the harbour, all the islands from a different viewpoint returned nothing. A scan of port hand spars in the channel revealed a Cormorant and a rather dark bird eating something, just the jizz of the bird had me back to the car for the scope - success - an Osprey fairly distant, dining on a fish. No problems with the ID but a passing boat spooked the bird and it relocated to the grass of Long Island. Tick in the box but no photographs.

A visit to Hayling Ferry Point gave nothing of note so we relocated to Chichester Harbour just down from Northney Marina. Not a lot of activity except for some Black-tailed Godwits relocating on the high tide, as we walked back to the car park around fifty birds were jostling for ever decreasing real estate.

This was followed by a visit to Pagham North Wall just as the tide was peaking. On Breech Pool all the usual suspects, Common Snipe, Teal, Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Spotted Redshanks and a sprinkling of Lapwings. On the stones were Wheatears and several Yellow Wagtails occupied the path. A raptor flyby caused a quickening of the pulse but after a small chase it proved to be a Common Buzzard rather than anything exotic.

Plenty of Swallows over the pool, all looking well fed and in fine fettle for the upcoming journey.



Africa - are you sure Dad??

 

Back to Birding

At long last a day out birding. Martin picked me up at 0900 and we set off for the North Wall at Pagham, half way there we realised that we intended to start at Church Norton. A quick diversion via Ford put us back on track. Following all the excellent reports of migrants on the SOS website the visit to Church Norton was a bit of an anti climax. Just one elusive Common Redstart in the churchyard and virtually nothing else. Just before we left we met Dorian and Dave who reported similar results. Finally a Spotted Flycatcher perched on one of the dead trees as we got into the car.

Next up was the west side by Long Pool, Dave had seen Whinchats here so we decided to stop for a look. Same old story - nothing to be found. Though in the creek Martin identified Greenshank and Spotted Redshank, albeit at some distance.

On round to the North Wall and as we parked in the lane the place was buzzing with hirundines. On the wires were Swallows, House Martins and a large number of Sand Martins.

 

"Let me get it straight - we are flying south 6000 miles to a place you don't know?"

"Yup"

Flight preparation - just about every bird on the wires was preening

As we made our way towards the sluice we recognised the familiar figure of Dave Shepherd, so not only was I reacquainting myself with birds but birders too. Several hours on the bank watching Breech Pool produced nothing out of the ordinary. On the pool were Black-tailed Godwits and Lapwings, an occasional Snipe and several Dunlin. A canary Yellow Wagtail on the mud on the far side and for just an instant we were thrown by the arrival of three Pintails in eclipse plumage.  Finally, on the way back to the sluice we were treated to good views of a Whinchat.

It is good to be back birding and Pagham is always a pleasure, 50 species in the day was a good reward. However, I did note that there was a loud exclamation of "Clouded Yellow" each time we were treated to a flyby.