Spoonbill

I had an itch that needed scratching; having at first ignored the Spoonbill at Newhaven Tidemills, I then decided that I should at least record it; of course on subsequent visits I missed it. So today, with reasonable weather, I paid a quick return visit. Thanks to other kind birders I managed to locate the bird in the creek, not the best shots in the world, but at long last I have captured photographs of its presence.

Very little else to be seen, the Eiders were out by the Lighthouse on the end of the West Pier. There were nearly 60 birds roosting on the rocks, probably mixed Purplies and Turnstones - just too far away for a positive ID with only bins. Nice to meet another Martin, hope his Spoonbill shots were OK.

Newhaven East Pier

My 250th Blog - doesn't time fly when you are enjoying yourself!

Another attempt to kill two birds with one stone and I didn't even give one of them a good fright. I had been ignoring the Newhaven Tidemills Spoonbill because I figured that I would wait for things to quieten down - everyone has photographed it at ridiculously close range. Secondly, Paul Loader has published some cracking shots of the Eiders in the harbour. So I set out in the grey gloom of the morning, confident that the BBC weather forecast was accurate and that we would have some decent sunshine by lunchtime. Well, I arrived at the Tidemills and of course being high tide the water levels in the pool were high and the Spoonbill nowhere to be seen. No matter, off to the East Pier as I could plainly see one large Eider Duck from the beach and a friendly birder advised that there were four more in the harbour.

On the pier itself was a lone angler with single Purple Sandpiper and Turnstone to keep him company. The previous night there had been several fishermen present and on leaving  had left bits of bait everywhere. Squid, Mackerel and Lugworm were on the menu for two very confiding birds. Out in the harbour the Eiders were staying as far away as possible, all were diving and obviously tucking into the crab population. I waited for more than a couple of hours for them to come close but they stubbornly remained at a distance.

Ah mackerel head - my favourite!.....................

.....................especially the eye!!

 

 Yet again I was taken by surprise as another seal surfaced in front of me, not sure that this one isn't following me.

 

 

With the tide well on the ebb I made my way back to the Tidemills for another shot at the Spoonbill, alas, nothing but Redshanks on the pool.

Colour Ringed BTG

Another positive result for a colour ringed Black-tailed Godwit sighting report. I e-mailed the information about WG-OB  to Raymond Duncan of the NE Scotland Black-tailed Godwit Project and I received a superb reply today.

Black-tailed Godwit RL:O//Bm-LL:WG was first ringed as a juvenile on the 21st September 2013 at Montrose Basin, NE Scotland, after a further sighting in that area the bird turned up at Breech Pool. It was still in residence when we visited the North Wall on Wednesday, happy with the newly exposed mud.

If you come across a colour ringed Godwit then please submit a sighting report. This document on the Colour Ringing Scheme   gives information on all the Black-tailed Godwit ringing programmes

Beardies, Stonechats, Kestrel and Water Rails

What a mouthful for a title. Yesterday I was moaning that I had hardly any photographs to blog - today the complete opposite. We started at Farlington marsh in another vain attempt at the White Fronted Geese  - truly a wild goose chase. Having nearly completed a full circuit of the marsh I had expended few pixels, a situation that was not really remedied by a flock of Bearded Tits that refused to show themselves, a few partial shots was all I could muster.

Bb

As we approached the car park Martin discovered a hat on the path which had obviously been dropped by the birder we had passed moments before. This must have set off a train of events that led to a remarkable day. By being delayed slightly we came across two male Stonechats willing to be photographed.

Next we were privileged to have close views of a female Kestrel which, while we were snapping away, dived down into the grass and emerged with what appeared to be a shrew or vole. Normally Kestrels disappear with their prey, not a bit of it, sitting out in the open she proceeded to have lunch in front of us. Unfortunately, said rodent was a tad too large to go down in one go, so the head was removed and eaten, followed by a few smaller chunks and then the rest slid down comfortably, albeit with a large lump in the throat.

 Having been delayed we decided that the rest of the day should be spent on the North Wall at Pagham. As I stated previously, Breech Pool now has a large expanse of mud with much reduced water levels. No doubt these conditions have brought out the Water Rails to play - see the previous blog. So all in all a great day's birding that was close to being another failure.

Fighting Rails

The much reduced water levels on Breech Pool have resulted in wide expanses of lovely mud. Today there were 4 Water Rails showing well, two of which were happy to go walkabouts in the open. Of course excursions into another bird's territory resulted in some ferocious squabbling accompanied by voluble squealing, very entertaining. As always, the best action happens at a distance, so, many of the photographs are not the best quality and have been fairly heavily cropped. However, I do believe they capture the essence of the drama.

Don't forget to visit Martin's Birding Blog - follow the link. He was also there to capture the action.

Q