Bullfinches

Today I visited a venue where normally Martin has to drag me, WWT at Arundel. Two reasons for staying local, a rather dodgy weather forecast and a chance of a Firecrest photograph. I started at Swanbourne Lake, very little to report here, just the obliging Tufties. I checked out the Yew trees on the other side of the lake as we have found Firecrests here before - nothing. Nor could I find a Grey Wagtail in the run off for the old mill. By now a chilly north west breeze was coming down the lake and I thought that a hide might be a better place to be.

Just before I reached the Sand Martin hide I flushed two Bullfinches from the nearby buddleia bushes, I made a mental note to return later. From the hide I had some great views of the Shelducks that had been in to roost overnight. The morning sun was not optimal but at least some of the birds were where I could get some decently lit photographs. Not only do the Shelducks take advantage of the shelter of the reserve, several wild Pochards have decided to integrate with the inmates and are virtually tame.

 

On leaving the hide I remembered the Bullfinches and sure enough two obliging females had returned to their seed cracking activities. The morning light was just right and the birds really didn't care how close I approached. I guess if they are in this environment then they must get used to people passing by.

 

Finally I left the reserve via the reedbed boardwalk, still searching for a possible Firecrest. In the car park I had lunch and was scanning the area for a male Bullfinch when two small white "flags" caught my eye. The bird was in the churned up mud at the far end of the car park, where much scrub has been removed and obviously plenty of disturbed food has become available. In addition to the Water Rail there were several Robins, Song Thrushes and Blackbirds foraging in the mud.

A circular trip around Burpham and the Burgh was pretty fruitless, as was the search for the recently reported Little Owl opposite Arundel railway station. By now dark grey clouds were gathering on the northern horizon so I headed for home.

Selsey Bill

I  arrived at Selsey Bill car park a tad after 0600, surprised by two things, the number of cars already parked and the fact the weather was not quite as forecast, the promised south easterly was still stuck firmly in the north east. Having set up my scope and chair amongst a host of birders I sat and waited for the action to commence, and I waited and waited, after four hours I cut my losses and departed for a walk round Church Norton. However, I wasn't totally unrewarded as Little Tern, Yellow Wagtail and, oddly enough, Whimbrel gave me year ticks. The Whimbrel were "lolloping"  along the beach when Owen Mitchell worked his magic and called them into range for a camera shot. Thanks Owen, with a bit more effort we could have had them down sun and a bit less altitude.

 Several Great Northern Divers were offshore and gave splendid views in the clear early morning light. Additionally, sightings of a dolphin and seal made up for the lack of Skuas. Commic and Sandwich Terns were feeding close to the shore line, and an incoming Hobby rounded off the watch.

At Church Norton things were pretty quiet, still plenty of  Whitethroats about but precious little else. I ambled round to the hide but found nothing so carried on up the path along the west side disturbing a pair of Shelducks  which were getting very friendly.

 

 

 

Plenty of butterflies about and I noted Peacock, Orange Tip and Speckled Wood. The gorse bushes are in full bloom, in the heat of the morning sun the scent was an overpowering smell of coconut. As always, amongst the sea of yellow, a male Linnet posed perfectly. The extensive reedbed was alive with Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers and vociferous Cetti's

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Broom doesn't look too bad either.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the local Crows were desperately trying to find the Dunnock's nest in the garden. However, just minutes later, the Crow was performing aerobatics to drive away a Herring Gull from its own nest. A case of the biter bit! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golden Plovers

A quick dash to Pagham Harbour to try to locate the Bearded Tits on the Long Pool. I parked the car at the visitor centre just as the sun was rising, a beautiful sight, but unfortunately I had brought only the big lens. As I made my way along the path past the hide the current influx of Fieldfares and Redwings was obvious, they were everywhere. From the viewpoint I counted 43 Shelduck on Ferrry Pool, all swimming in the small amount of free water in a frozen lake.

I started the vigil at the Long Pool, after an hour I became bored and walked down to the end of LP where the wooden seat overlooks the channel, as soon as I stepped off the path I flushed a Jack Snipe, how on earth do you photograph such a bird? Another hour of the vigil passed and I was joined by a birder who had seen the birds the previous day but wanted to obtain better photographs - not much chance in the prevailing light! Then Ivan came by and we passed several minutes on the pros and cons of cameras and digital photography - still no show. Then finally after about two and a half hours I located three of the tits very distant. They were calling but only a male showed fleetingly - never mind - a year tick and another wait for better weather.

 On the horizon dark clouds were gathering and the south easterly breeze was picking up and try as I might I couldn't relocate the Bearded Tits, so I made my way back to the car park, stopping at the viewpoint to find that the Shelducks had left the pool and were roosting on the bank. Just as I passed the hide I was treated to a high altitude flypast of a skein of geese, nineteen or twenty which I am sure were White Fronted Geese, their flight path taking them straight down the harbour but they showed no sign of descending.

By now the rain was coming steadily down and I decided that a visit to West WIttering was in order, just so that I could do some birding in the comfort of the car, well I did want to record some more ringed Brent Geese. When I arrived the grassy fields were occupied by a scattering of Brents, a handful of Lapwings and some obviously hungry Golden Plovers. These birds appear to be adept at finding earthworms but not so clever at keeping them. As a bird pulled a large worm from the ground other birds would swoop in to steal the prize, including Black-headed Gulls that would chase the Plovers relentlessly until they gave up their food.