Iceland Gull

The 2nd Winter Iceland Gull at Goring Gap prefers to be "Billy no mates". Spending most of the time apart from the other gulls and thus being easy to spot. Though I have to say he goes missing quite a lot.

Nice to be out birding locally, the female Brambling at Pagham Visitor Centre and the Purple Sandpipers at Selsey providing some photographic opportunities.

Now back to sorting out some photographs from our Spanish trip.

Purple Sandpipers

With my mobility still restricted I had to find somewhere to go where I could use a lighter set of equipment. Fortunately the three things you need to get Purple Sandpipers occurred today - sunshine, a midday tide  and of sufficient height to push the birds on to the top of the East Pier at Newhaven. As the tide peaked at 6.8 metres several of the 16 birds that were hiding under the pier popped up and the conditions were perfect.

If the water doesn't come up high enough you have to shoot down and it can be quite dark.

However, when they come up they are happy to pose for the camera.

 

 Turnstones too, ever on the lookout for a fisherman discarding a lump of bait.

Snow Bunting

Today we went east in search of a Brambling, a bird that has been somewhat elusive this year. With only twenty three days birding left in the year we are definitely "tick hunting". As we pulled into the car park at Friston Forest we were happy to see flocks of Chaffinches on the move. Sure enough, after some searching, we found two female Bramblings foraging in the deep leaf litter. We parked away from the birds to get the cameras out, the intention to use the car as a hide and obtain some record shots. No way! As soon as we got out of the car every bird did a vanishing act, never to return. We hung about for the best part of a couple of hours but a chill wind had sprung up and the area remained  a birding desert.

We decided that the Cuckmere was worth a look but on parking at the Golden Galleon it was obvious that neither of us fancied a long muddy slog down the river. So we decided that we should visit Arundel, in search of the reportedly numerous Firecrests, another bird on the "wanted" list. As we passed Tidemills there seemed to be lots of bird activity so we decided to give it "two coats of looking at". Sure enough, two photographers lying on the shingle obviously focussing on a bird that wasn't too far away, after some time I finally located the bird - Snow Bunting.

Nice to meet Gideon Knight and his cousin Caleb, graciously they shared the bird with us. Checkout Gideon's cracking photography here

 

I had been meaning to visit the East Pier again to catch the obliging Purple Sandpipers and today was an ideal opportunity as the light was just right, Unfortunately our activities with the Snowy meant that we arrived on the pier after high water and the Purplies had relocated from the top deck to the concrete pilings underneath. This meant we were shooting down and into shade rather than catching the birds in full sun. Never mind a return visit with a packet of squid in hand will no doubt give the right result.

Burghead and Lossiemouth

A visit to Burghead never fails to produce something. During the winter hundreds of sea ducks reside in Burghead Bay and in periods of rough weather take shelter in the harbour. This time we were royally entertained by Eiders, several in the harbour, catching a plentiful supply of crabs.

Eiders have a great way of dealing with the bits of crab they don't want. The specimen is shaken and dunked until all the legs and claws fall off and is then consumed, leaving a lump in the throat, of the Eider that is!

 

Further round on the beach another flock of Eiders feeding off the point, constantly harassed by Herring Gulls.

One day the sun was shining and roosting on the rocks were five Knot amongst the Oystercatchers, one Knot posed for us before the incoming tide caused them to depart. It was good to record two Purple Sandpipers, making a brief visit before being swept from their perch by a large wave.

Seawatching  produced several good sightings, three Bonxies and a lone Pomarine Skua. Lots of Gannets plunge diving, a horde of Shags and the odd string of newly arrived Long-tailed Ducks. Razorbills and Guillemots were about in good numbers. The star sighting was two brief glimpses of a Minke Whale breaching a fair way offshore. Seals are numerous here and they can be easily spotted, poking their heads up just off the rocky beach.

Burghead is a busy fishing port, the bonus is that when one of the boats enters harbour the seals follow and today was no exception.

I reckon this one has landed its last catch, the propeller probably worth more than the rest.

We visited Roseisle for another sea watch and to try to locate a reported Red-necked Grebe. Plenty of birds present in flat calm conditions. We recorded Velvet and Common Scoters, Eider and Long-tailed Ducks, Goosander, Red-breasted Merganser, Slavonian Grebes and finally the sought after Red-necked Grebe.

We rounded off the day with another visit to Lossiemouth, this time the harbour and the estuary. The river and East Beach are home to a large flock of Wigeon and roosting gulls of all kinds. Odd how a common bird on your own patch can cause excitement for the local birders, a lone Mediterranean Gull spotted by a sharp eyed birder amongst the huge numbers of gulls, was a notable record. Two rather scruffy looking Goosanders were in the river and several female Red-breasted Mergansers were feeding where a small burn entered the main river.

Scruffy!

Meanest looking Herring Gull I have ever seen

If you visit Lossie then I heartily recommend that you visit the local home made ice cream emporium on the esplanade. Great to sit and consume a twin cone Snicker and sea salt caramel whilst searching the gulls for something exotic.

The RAF are busy here and we were treated to flybys of both Tornado and Typhoon aircraft, the odd observation is that these extremely noisy machines do not disturb the birds one iota.

One for Dave Shepherd