Ashdown Forest - Old Lodge NR

The weather is not exactly brilliant at the moment, especially if you're a bird photographer. In fact it's been a pretty rubbish 'winter' for photography!
The only sunny afternoon last week was spent at Old Lodge Nature Reserve. Quite a bit of bird activity although I didn't manage to spot woodlark, the great grey shrike (which remains a species I have yet to see for the first time) nor the Dartford warbler that a lucky birder had watched the previous day.

But as you know, I don't desperately "need" a new or rare species to enjoy my day out birding. I'm happy to watch any bird.


There was a lovely fieldfare (or probably more but I only spotted the one) and I managed a shot that is much better than my previous 'record' shot of this beautiful winter thrush.

There were three bullfinches - two males and a female - in the same bush but they weren't willing to pose for a photo.


We saw robin, blackbird, chaffinch, great spotted woodpecker, siskin, crow and - to my suprise - a flock of at least 10 reed buntings.

I watched plenty of goldcrests feeding, along with coal tit, blue tit and great tit.
20+ redpolls (mostly lessers but I am fairly certain I spotted a couple of mealies) were very active flying from tree to tree, feeding and taking off again. Lovely!

On the way back to the car, I spotted two or three crossbill with a beautiful male on the look-out.

What I enjoyed the most was listening to numerous coal tits and great tits singing their little hearts out. Spring has officially arrived!

Still birding!

Wow! Have I really not updated my blog since September?! Very embarrassing. But in case you were wondering, no, I have not quit birding and yes, I still enjoy bird photography as well! 
There'll be more blog posts in 2012, I promise. :)

Some of the birding highlights I didn't tell you about last year include more whinchats (seen around Cissbury Ring) and a beautiful grey phalarope at Prinsted in West Sussex:




More shots of this confiding little bird can be found here: Grey Phalarope

Then, in October, I finally saw crossbills on Ashdown Forest. Beautiful and fascinating finches! I really enjoyed watching them in the autumn sunshine, along with lots of siskins and lesser redpolls. Finch Fest!!



More photos: Crossbills

Also enjoyed the many wheatears - always good to see those little beauties. One juvenile bird allowed me to walk right up to it (very slowly of course) and get my best wheatear shots to date! More pictures can be found here:  wheatear photos.




In November, lots of short-eared owls were reported in Sussex. Would I get to see my first ever wild owl? YES! At Waltham Brooks, I was able to watch up to four owls hunting at the same time. What a privilege!

I did get a few shots as well. :) More here: short-eared owl photos.


 
In December, two snow buntings were reported on the beach at Shoreham (Widewater Lagoon) and as I just LOVE snow buntings, I had to go and see them! We did find them but they were spooked and flew off after two minutes. We went back twice but could not find them. Last week, we were lucky - the birds are still around (in fact were joined by a third snow bunting a few days ago) and we got to watch the pair for over an hour. Here's a shot of the female:


More shots here: snow bunting photos
 
We also had a lovely time watching the beautiful firecrests at Pulborough Brooks (in December and also a few days ago) - not easy to photograph though! Always moving about, always hyper! Check out my firecrest photos

While I'm looking forward to some 'lifers' in 2012 (still loads of 'new' birds to see!), I am not a twitcher and I do not keep a year list. I just love to watch birds, their behaviour and, if possible, take a few nice photos. I can't wait for the summer visitors to return - the first swallow, the first whitethroat and I am always happy to watch and photograph 'common' birds. I just love them all!



I'll tell you about my birding adventures here, so make sure you'll check back soon! Also, my latest bird photos will be published here.



Happy birding, everyone!

Finally - a whinchat!

Well it's only taken about 1 1/2 years for me to see my first ever winchat...three days ago I finally saw my first Saxicola rubetra at Canon's Farm, Banstead (Surrey). And what a lovely little bird! It was perched on a fence most of the time but a bit distant so I only got a couple of record shots. But I'm not complaining! I can finally say: I've seen a whinchat! :)

Wheatear saves the day

Last Sunday, we went to Church Norton. Some good migrants have been turning up there in the last couple of weeks, including wheatear, whinchat, pied flycatcher and even a wryneck. Unfortunately it was very windy so any small birds that might have been around were all hiding - I only saw one chiffchaff. While watching a lot of swallows, I missed a sandwich tern that was flying right above my head (would have been a first for me!) - I saw a photo of it later that my partner took who was stood next to me. Oh well, a great start! Was this going to be another frustrating day? A trip to Seaford Head and Pulborough Brooks last Wednesday had been fruitless - I saw no migrants at all apart from two VERY distant wheatears.

On the beach, there were a few turnstones, curlews and oystercatchers - they were not willing to pose for a few photos. Great. And SO windy! Makes it VERY hard to handhold a heavy camera and lens!

When I was just about to give up, I scanned the beach for about 5 more minutes - and finally, there was some movement. A lone first-winter wheatear!

So the next few hours were spent trying to get closer to it without chasing it. It seemed to be getting used to me after a while, and I ended up just standing in the same place for a long time, after finding out which spots it preferred for feeding. And it eventually came to me, sheltering from the wind nearby, looking at me. The best shots I got when it was feeding behind the sea defences. I tried to duck & hide - it would only have seen my lens. It was SO cute - when it heard the clicking noise it came running (!) right up to me - it was only about 2 metres away from me - looking at me as if to say 'What ARE you doing there, silly - I do know you are there! Go on then, take a few shots.' :) Made my day!


Who are you?


For more photos of this wheatear and others, click here: Wheatear photos

Crested Tits

I haven't manged to get out and see whinchat, wheatear or any other migrants since I saw the hoopoe, mainly due to the fact that I was away visiting family in Germany for 10 days (and now that I'm back the weather is rubbish of course!).
I didn't take my camera or bins or anything but that didn't stop me looking out for any feathered creatures that might fly my way when we went for a walk in the very very green and beautiful "Sauerland" woodland. I heard and saw some goldcrests, chiffchaffs, treecreepers, great and blue tits, robins, a buzzard, 5 woodpeckers (I'm still not sure which - it just didn't sound like GSWs so could have been families of either middle spotted or lesser spotted, all of which can be found there).
When I was pointing out a goldcrest to my family, I all of sudden noticed a bird that I had been wanting to see again for ages: a crested tit! I only got a very brief view so returned to the same spot the following day (just can't help being a birder!). :) I was lucky, I found at least 4 crested tits feeding in the tree tops. At one point, one was feeding right above my head and then landed on the ground about 2 metres away from my feet. So even without bins, camera (or my glasses!!) I had fantastic views of this beautiful little bird and was a very happy bunny indeed! :)
Unfortunately my mobile was useless....these are the record shots I got - probably the worst record shots in the history of birding!

Not great...nevermind. I did do a quick sketch for you!

Hoopoe - Farthing Downs - Coulsdon

Wow, long time no blog! The breeding season's come and gone...migration is in full swing. Time flies!

The lack of blog posts doesn't mean that I haven't been out and about watching and photographing birds whenever possible.

Stonechats, Redstarts, Spotted Flycatchers and Sand Martins were some of the highlights during the summer and, as always, it has been a great joy 'meeting' the new generation, such as the young blackcap pictured above.
More new shots can be found  here (including a couple of nice shots of a female bullfinch that I'd been after for years!): New Bird Photos

So maybe no 'unusual' birds since the wryneck at Pulborough Brooks in May (there is in fact one present again right now!) but I love watching house sparrows and finches and all of the 'common' birds - I don't need a rare migrant in order to come home with a smile on my face after a day's birding.

Having said that - while I'm not a twitcher - I do of course want to see 'new' birds whenever I can. When a hoopoe was reported at Farthing Downs, Coulsdon (Surrey) - which is only about 45 mins from here - I obviously really really wanted to see it. It's such an unusal bird with its long bill, brilliant crest, pink/orange plumage and black-and-white wings that it really is a bird that any birder wants to see. It was first reported on Sunday 14 August and then relocated on the Wednesday. I wasn't able to go until Friday and was very lucky - it was still there! A lifer for me and what a FANTASTIC bird. It wasn't very confiding but seemed fairly happy to be watched from a sensible distance. It was spooked by dog walkers, joggers and  a very territorial kestrel every now and then but kept returning to its favourite spot along the main path. A magpie appeared and seemed very interested in the unusual visitor, just like us birders! It kept edging closer to the hoopoe until they both seemed to be exchanging greetings before feeding next to each other. Brilliant behaviour to watch! Here's some of the shots I got of the hoopoe:

More shots can be found here: Hoopoe photos.

Still haven't seen a whinchat - and they're all over the South Downs at the moment (there was one at Coulsdon but not when I was trying to find it!). I have HEARD a grasshopper warbler but not seen one. Oh well, I WILL see these birds and many more I haven't seen yet despite trying to. Something to look forward to! :)

The new generation

Spring is my favourite time of year - first all the migrant birds come back and sing, and then the new generation appears.
In my own garden, I have had two juvenile dunnocks, at least six baby house sparrows being fed by their parents and, since yesterday, three lovely and cheeky young starlings. They beg for food the whole time - they even tried to get a blackbird (also busy collecting food for fledgelings) to part with its food. A joy to watch!!

When I heard about two little grebe chicks that had successfully hatched not too far from here, I just had to go and see them. They are SO cute (so are adult little grebes!). I had also been after a shot of a little grebe riding on the adult's back for a long time - but obviously not an easy photo to get. Little grebes can be rather secretive and are very fast swimmers.

When we arrived at the site, the grebes were nowhere to be seen. No shortage of baby birds though!
There were two pairs of greylag geese with several goslings



Greylag geese



Mallard duckling

Also plenty of mallard ducklings, young moorhens and coots.

Coot feeding chicks

After a couple of hours I finally spotted the two little grebe chicks. Interestingly, no adults in sight but a black-headed gull that showed too much interest in the little ones...luckily, they managed to hide in the reeds and the gull flew off. Phew!

Here's a shot of the two grebe chicks, one doing a penguin impression.

Oh and I've also got an adult grebe for you doing a balloon impression! :)

Anyhow, a few minutes later, an adult grebe appeared with a big fish. No idea how the tiny chicks managed to swallow it!


Little grebe with fish (record shot!!)

The adult then swam off and returned with another, much smaller fish a bit later. And this time the chicks followed the adult and tried to climb up on their back (you can't tell whether this adult is actually a male or female). I think they are getting a bit too large now to be doing this but I was lucky - one did manage and I got a couple of shots. The light wasn't brilliant, either too dark or - when the sun came out - it was a bit harsh. Well always something wrong with 'the light' isn't there. ;)

Isn't this cute?? :)

What you think is the adult grebe's rump is actually the second chick's bottom - it didn't manage to climb up onto Mummy or Daddy's back!

So I'm really happy I got to see this special behaviour and got a couple of shots to look at and share with you as well.

Kingfishers!

We had a lovely afternoon yesterday watching kingfishers and chatting with like-minded bird and photography enthusiasts (hello Julie, very nice meeting you!). :)

I love kingfishers - they're such beautiful, colourful birds and a joy to watch.

I also got a few nice shots. When I looked at my photos this morning, I decided to edit the background- something I don't usually do. I like to show a bird in its typical habitat, so I feel the background should be left alone...I only clone out the odd twig or leaf that might distract from the bird. This time however, I wanted to bring out the kingfishers' beauty and specifically emphasize their amazing colours by contrasting them with the background. I used the colours that were already there in the original shots (almost black, green and brown) and basically softened them. I quite like the result - a bit like a photo session with kingfishers in a photo studio. I hope you like my shots too!



Kingfisher with fish



Male Kingfisher



Male Kingfisher preening

Female Kingfisher