Wryneck

With the weather set fair and some good reports for Farlington Marshes on the net, we decided that a visit was in order, especially as one of the reported birds was a Wryneck. I picked Martin up at 0900 but following a posting on SOS by Jan Jupp stating that the Cissbury Wryneck was still present we changed our plan and set off for Findon.

Of course we had to pass the Lloyds Registry in  Durrington and lo and behold one of the Peregrines was home and having breakfast to boot. Setting up our cameras in the road caused no consternation to passers-by, most were aware of the birds and I detected a certain amount of local pride in their presence.

"At the sign of the Black Horse"

Pigeon for breakfast

 We arrived at the lower car park at Nepcote and with some haste set off for the horse paddocks. On the path an obliging Whinchat posed for the camera but it was the Wryneck that was the target so we pushed on.

Not quite sure of the exact location we paused and then spotted a lone birder in the distance. This turned out to be Russ Tofts who had located the bird and we were on it immediately - thanks Russ. The bird remained in the vicinity for quite a time but never came closer than when we first arrived so we contented ourselves with decent record shots and a year tick - don't think I will catch up with Martin before the end of the year though.







Happy to sit in the warm morning sunshine.





By the time we left at midday the bird had gone into hiding and there was a considerable heat haze developing, so there was little chance of improving on what we had already captured. Nice to meet up with Nick Bond again, hope he got some decent shots and a big thank you to Jan for the timely posting.

Quite a few Redstarts were about, we also noted a Spotted Flycatcher in the hedge below us and a busy Willow Warbler working from the tops of the bushes but as the sun became more powerful the birds just slipped into cover and it became rather quiet.