Seabirds and Owls

Yesterday was a revisit to Princes Park in Eastbourne for another go at the Bonaparte's Gull, Martin being insistent that I should get this tick. Well, soon after we arrived the bird duly turned up and was captured on pixels. Feeding bread turned it into a bit of a nightmare as the bird then became very mobile and I found it difficult to track it amongst all those Black-headed Gulls, especially through a viewfinder! Considering the scarcity of the bird I should have been elated to have a lifetime tick but it was a bit of  an anti-climax and I don't know why that should be.

 

BHG for comparison.

 

A big bird....

 

..... with things on his mind.

 

Having achieved our main objective so early we decided to go on a coastal tour of likely venues, not necessarily for birds today, more an exercise in putting places to names that we find on the SOS sightings page.  First stop was Belle Tout  wood, which of course at this time of the season was fairly deserted, just a vociferous Great Tit and some lazy Crows. Up above the downs several Skylarks were soaring and singing - a sign of things to come.

Onwards through Birling Gap and Newhaven Tidemills which were equally lacking bird life, a bonus was a year tick for Martin in the form of a Rock Pipit below the cliffs. Seaford Head gave three Meadow Pipits but precious little else was moving apart from large numbers of corvids. Splash Point was heartening as there were at least six Kittiwake pairs on the nest sites already. Next was West Beach and Quay, where upon leaving the car we heard a familiar sound that wasn't Jackdaw or Pigeon, at least ten pairs of Fulmars were in nest holes and some were doing pair bonding displays. Of course such birds demanded to be photographed, a search of the harbour revealed no exotic variety of gull.

 

 

 

We were keen to get on to Arlington Reservoir to find the Slavonian Grebe that has been staying for some time. We didn't relish a walk to the hide in the quagmire that is the path and fortunately some kind birders who had just seen the grebe put us on to it. So, standing just below the car park with the scope we found our subject. This after I had caused a stir by mistakenly identifying a low lying mooring buoy with a red hook on top as a red top Smew, my appointment with Specsaver's is next week. The day had picked up and we decided to go hotfoot to Waltham Brooks to see if we could firstly locate a Barn Owl and secondly get a shot. As we walked south along the river bank I was confident that we would see an owl but the light was going down rapidly, the discomfort of standing in wet mud and a chilly westerly breeze disappeared as Martin spotted an owl which was subsequently joined by another. Neither bird came very close but we had one final treat in store as, at the death, the two owls were joined by a Ring-tailed Hen Harrier

Siskin City

Today I had to attend a "Technical Off Site Meeting" in Crawley, TOSM being my old workplace euphemism for lunch at the pub. So I thought that I could kill two birds with one stone, a visit to Warnham LNR at Horsham with the chance of catching a Brambling and a chance to catch up with old work colleagues.

I arrived at Warnham dead on 1000, unfortunately in the pouring rain and dreadful light. As I made my way to the Woodpecker hide it was obvious from the noise from the surrounding trees that there were plenty of birds about. I'm not sure whether I am using the wrong deodorant but this is the second birding trip in a row where I have had exclusive use of  the hide.

The numbers of Siskins were much like a carpet on the ground in front of the hide, interspersed with Lesser Redpolls, truly astounding. Further back, settled on a carpet of seeds were Chaffinches with three Bramblings in attendance. The birds were quite skittish at times, not surprising as the local Sparrowhawk probably can't believe his luck, the best stocked raptor larder in the south of England. Although the rain eased off the light remained poor and capturing sharp images was difficult. Around midday I was joined by Bill Brooks who obviously had read the report on SOS too. On the way out I met Dorian - great minds thinking alike or fools not differing??

 

No "Brambling on a stick" shot, just on the ground amidst a pile of food.

 

 

The hardest working members of staff at Warnham

Finally thanks to Kevin for reminding me that it is three years to the day since I retired, talk about time flying by!!

Cetti's Warbler

I guess that if you blog about birding it would be easy to just report successful days out and omit the failures. Of course this depends upon your yardstick of success, Yesterday Martin and I travelled to Dungeness where, in birding terms we had a great day, for me a failure as I ended up with an awful lot of bad photographs.

We arrived at the ARC side of Dungeness at about 0800, no other cars were in the car park and we found the ARC hide to be empty and had it almost to ourselves for the next two hours - bliss! There was a sharp westerly breeze and I expected the birds to be sat in the lee of the hide - wrong! - the birds, mainly ducks were spread far and wide. First up was a distant fly by of a Marsh Harrier then another, then another. I reckoned on a least ten sightings, probably more. At one time we had four harriers in sight at the same time and another where three and a Buzzard were present, albeit at a distance.  Next to arrive on the scene was a Great White Egret parading itself in front of the empty viewing screen, meanwhile an amorous Goldeneye was performing a fantastic display ritual to some uninterested ladies. Whilst all this was happening we had a flyby of a Kingfisher close to the hide windows, then Martin spotted a distant Bittern landing in the reeds of the far bank, the bird remaining in view at the edge of the reeds for some time.

I could hear a Cetti's Warbler calling in the reeds to the right of the hide and decided to investigate, opening the right hand side window I was amazed to see the bird foraging in the scrub immediately below the window. Talk about being frustrated, my lens far too big to get focus, for the first time I was asking a bird to move away. Anyway what usable shots I managed to get are shown below.

An eccentric head throwing display that didn't do a lot for the two females watching.

Having had more Kingfisher, Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier flybys and yet another Bittern we left the hide for the car park. On the trail a birder just in front of us flushed both the GWE and a Bittern from adjacent pools.  Next port of call was Boulderwall Farm, just over the road, home to the most famous flock of Tree Sparrows in Kent. I had guaranteed Martin close up shots of them on the feeders by the farmhouse. To my amazement not a bird to be seen and my credibility out of the window, then slowly, two or three at a time the birds began arriving from a bush across the road. They seemed to put off by the strong breeze but eventually they showed.
The GWE or should I say 'a'  as there are 7 of them reported to be in the area, flew by and landed in the pool next to the road. So, leaving Martin with the sparrows, I nipped onto the road and managed a record shot.

Why do Bitterns always crash land?

A really smart bird

A quick call in at the Visitor Centre and then away to Scotney Pit where there were monstrous amounts of wildfowl, all viewable from the comfort of the car. Despite much searching we found no hidden rarities, though we did get a Ruff roosting on the bank with three Redshanks. Before we left, a flock of Barnacle Geese, probably more than 30, arrived and landed on the grass. These are the usual residents and in with the flock were three Emperor x Barnacle hybrids that I had seen last year. On the far bank we spied yet another Marsh Harrier, they seem to be everywhere.

Making our way back to Eastbourne we paused at the "Colonel Body Memorial Lakes" at Pett Level, similarly filled with large amounts of wildfowl, oddly enough the Shoveler were more numerous than at Scotney. Oh and a Marsh Harrier quartering the far bank.

The Bonaparte's Gull at Princes Park had been reported as being present during the morning, but of course during our vigil it didn't show

So there you have it - a paradox - great birding - poor photography. The true measure of the day is that when Martin dropped me off at home I thought "What a great day - when are we going again?

Goldcrests II

Just a quick trial to see if capturing Goldcrests would be easier using flash. The birds have been more amenable lately, visiting the feeders and the bird table. The same problems exist, obscuration by foliage and they are constantly moving. Most birds are not spooked by flash, Robins, Tits and Dunnocks may sometimes move away a few feet but soon return. Goldcrests appear to be totally oblivious of flash, continuing to feed even when multi flash mode is used, on the other hand Wood Pigeons are really disturbed by flash and disappear rapidly. Now there's a thought!

 I prefer not to have photographs of birds on feeders but in this shot that is the point - not a common occurrence.

 

  Perhaps a little more practice required.

Even a Dunnock looks good with flash