Water Rail

Photographs have been hard to come by of late, lots of trips out for no reward. It isn't that we haven't seen good birds, Black Redstart, Short-eared Owl, Hume's Warbler and a Ringtail Hen Harrier have been the highlights, but unfortunately no success in the photographic department. We set out today to do the rounds of our usual haunts, plenty of birds on the North Wall at Pagham but nothing new or exciting. Similarly Church Norton was populated with all the regulars but we didn't find the ever present Whimbrel.

Finally I suggested that we should get out of the biting cold northerly wind and  have a cup of tea at the the Wildfowl and Wetland Centre at Arundel. It's always good for a photograph or two and I jokingly predicted Water Rail, Bullfinch, Snipe and Kingfisher - blow me down we got all four. However, we never got round to having a pot of tea.

When we arrived we took a leisurely stroll round the reedbed boardwalk hoping for a skulking Water Rail, not a bird to be seen, we didn't disturb even a Mallard.  It wasn't looking too good. However when we approached one of the hides there was a small congregation of photographers with lenses pointing at a small brown object just over the fence.  We joined them and filled our boots as they say. In fact most of those who were there went off to photograph a Chiffchaff and we had the bird to ourselves. A Chiffchaff!! that's a garden tick - no contest against a very obliging Water Rail.

The bird alternated between the deep shade and bright sunlight and compensating for that was hard work but I also learned the obvious, that during feeding its head and bill were in constant motion and that shutter speed was critical.

Having expended gigapixels on such a fine subject we continued our meandering, a Kingfisher perched but was obscured by willow branches and was a tad too distant for a decent shot. Plenty of Snipe were about and one posed well for us.

Plenty of Snipe on the reserve.

Finally on the way back to the VC we spotted a female Bullfinch, just a bit too far away for a good shot, we waited patiently, in the hope that she might relocate or be joined by a bright red male - no such luck. Just good to be out with some birds and sunshine which afforded me sufficient material for my first blog of 2019, long may it continue.

Red-necked Phalarope

Phew What a Scorcher!  The hottest September birding day for 105 years and we were out in it. Actually, out on the north wall at Pagham it was a beautiful morning. Oddly, the wind was from the east and it was pleasant to be out. However no one had told the birds - just the usual suspects to be found - Black-tailed Godwits, Greenshank, Snipe, a couple of Dunlins and a raft of Redshanks inhabited the exposed mud. A Ruff flew in and after a swift bath, hid amongst the godwits. So we waited for something to turn up and boredom soon set in so we departed. On the way out we met several birders and we ended up heading for Thorney Island and the Red-necked Phalarope. This bird has been present for over a week and we have eschewed a visit because usually it is at a distance, affording little opportunity for a photograph.

Anyway, as we approached the Little Deep, Martin spotted it almost immediately, happily feeding away at a fair distance. Luckily, several times during our stay the bird ventured closer to our position and we were able to get some decent record shots.

As we left I mused aloud that it was great to have a lifer but that it was a shame that it wasn't a Sussex tick too. Now my Geography isn't bad and I do have some qualifications and experience in navigation but it did come as a bit of a shock that I could be so wrong - of course Thorney Island is in Sussex - Doh! Ticks all round then. Not only that, whilst updating my records I noticed another milestone - this is my 300th bird species to be photographed - where the definition of a photograph is that it is a recognisable bird - not just a clump of pixels.

The previous day we had ventured to Titchfield Haven in search of the Semipalmated Sandpiper, unfortunately a dip, a not unlikely event as I don't seem to have much luck at this venue. Anyway I considered five hours in one of the hides to be sufficient effort and we left without a sniff of the bird. Of course other birds were present and I whiled some of the time away capturing an obliging Ruff and a confiding Snipe.

Finally some shots recorded on days when I didn't have enough to blog. First an inquisitive Buzzard that gave us the once over on Honer Farm.

 

 Followed by two birds that have almost given me the slip this year - Wryneck and Curlew Sandpiper - maybe next year.

And finally the yellowest Yellow Wagtail of the year

Long-billed Dowitcher and Goosanders

Whilst it is nice to bird away there is something about birding on your local patch, it's just that our patch stretches from Lymington to Dungeness. So we found ourselves in search of the Long-billed Dowitcher down at Pennington Marshes. It didn't take long to find the bird - well not long to be shown where it was by a kind local birder if the truth be known. Initially the bird was semi hidden in the company of three Snipe but obligingly emerged for a photo shoot.

I also recorded two ringed Mute Swans, I will pop off a report and wait to see if they have an interesting history.

Having started so well we decided to visit Mark Ash to see if we could locate an early Lesser-spotted Woodpecker but it was a dip. So too our regular Tawny Owl - it would appear that he has gone to reside elsewhere.  We finished up at Eyeworth Pond at Fritham where Martin was looking for some Marsh Tit shots and I thought we may find some recently reported Goosanders, Happily we both came away satisfied. The icing on the cake was the superb weather - spring has to be just round the corner.

 

 

I suspect that there are plenty of fish in Eyeworth