Warnham Nature Reserve - again

Earlier this week, we went to Warnham Nature Reserve yet again; it's just a lovely place and you know you'll probably get some nice photos of woodland birds (in winter anyway). However, it was very busy, Woodpecker hide was quite crowded so I couldn't sit/stand in my favourite spots and didn't stay very long.

I did get a shot of a long-tailed tit feeding...been after that for a while! :)

Also photographed one of the reed buntings...almost in full breeding plumage now...

Not too keen on the feeder in this shot but I really like the look on the little siskin's face...

 On the way back to the car park, a male dunnock perched right in front of us and sang his little heart out. Brilliant! Such beautiful little birds - not "dull" at all! - and fabulous songsters.

Spring is in the air!

With reports of many new arrivals in the country - including the first few hirundines, chiffchaffs and wheatears (loads reported yesterday and today!) - I just cannot wait to get out there.
Hopefully Monday...I hope there'll be some male wheatears waiting for me somewhere...I'm still hoping for a really good shot of one before they move on to their breeding grounds. To hear the first chiffchaff, spot the first whitethroat...you know what, I'm childishly excited!!!!! :)

Warnham LNR

As this photo I took of a beautiful male lesser redpoll at Warnham LNR last week won 'notable photo' on birdguides.com today, I realised it was time to update my blog!

Not done much birding recently - went to Warnham a couple of times and today finally decided to go and see the Paddyfield warbler that has been at Pagham North Wall since November. Well, what can I say - it didn't show. It was seen several times this morning and also at lunchtime and then disappeared just before we arrived. Oh well, typical. ;)

We did see a few reed buntings, plenty of teal and wigeon, pintail, redshank and a snipe that I spotted in the distance next to a few sleepy mallards. By the time I had made my way down the steep bank, trying to get just a LITTLE closer...yeah well, you guessed it, it had disappeared. So I ended up with just another rubbish record shot (the over-exposed reeds tell you that my settings were totally wrong as well) - then again, probably slightly less rubbish than the first one I got last year.
Spot the snipe...

I also met "Pagham Birder" whose blog I've been following for quite a while so that was lovely!

Apart from that, a rather disappointing afternoon for obvious reasons.

So...back to Warnham! It's really one of my favourite places for bird photography at this time of year. March is the best month really because the numbers of winter finches build up and you can take lovely photos from Woodpecker Hide. It's also where I found 'my' mealy redpoll a year ago! I reported the bird to the West Sussex rarities committee and I'm pleased to say that it was accepted a few weeks ago!
I didn't see a mealy last week but plenty of lesser redpolls - and got my best shots to date. Here's another one, this time of a female:

For more shots of this beautiful little finch, please click here: Lesser Redpolls

Another favourite of mine is the siskin! Here's a lovely little female - they are so beautifully marked! 

I even saw a singing male - which is rather unusual, they don't breed at Warnham after all.

More shots of this great - and surprisingly tiny - finch can be viewed here: Siskins

Reed buntings can also be seen around the feeders. Some of the males are really coming into breeding plumage, their heads already almost black whereas others are still in winter plumage.

Two males: Almost in breeding plumage above, still in winter plumage below.

A water rail made a brief appearance - just like last year, fabulous!

I also enjoy watching and photographing the resident "common" woodland birds. Nothing common about them, really - each and every one of them is a little beauty.

Robin

Chaffinch

Nuthatch

Wren - I still haven't managed to get a really good shot of a wren...but...getting there....watch this space!

Same with fieldfare and redwing - but I did get a nice shot of the former at Warnham a few weeks ago!

A cheeky blue tit

Soon the winter finches and thrushes will be leaving...and the summer visitors will return. A few sand martins, swallows and even a wheatear have already been reported. I SO can't wait to spot my first whitethroat of the year!!!! :)

Mealy it is!

I have had confirmation from several bird experts that my photos do indeed show a mealy redpoll plus, this morning, someone else who apparently saw the bird at Warnham Nature Reserve yesterday reported it to birdguides.com. So a 'life tick' for me (not that I keep an actual list but I do love to add new birds to the 'list in my head' and to my bird photo gallery)!

I also saw a merlin yesterday afternoon but will blog about our visit to Pagham later.

Female merlin

Mealy Redpoll?

In glorious sunshine, we popped down to Warnham LNR this morning. The flock of redpolls has grown quite a bit - there were at least 10 birds on and around the Woodpecker Hide nyger seed feeder. I always watch the redpolls as I'm really fond of them - and of course I always hope I might spot a mealy among the lessers. And today I think this might have happened!
One bird stood out. A female, much larger than the other redpolls, very pale with no brown on her chest/sides/upperparts and a bright white wingbar. Having studied quite a few photos and having read several articles on how to tell the two species apart, I am fairly certain that this bird is a mealy. I only managed a couple of poor shots before the bird flew off but you can clearly see how different it looks from the lesser redpoll.

It's the bird on the right - large and very pale.

Here it is the bird on the left.

If anyone thinks I'm completely wrong, please do get in touch. I do hope it is a mealy...a lifer for me! :)

Once bittern....

When I entered the bird hide at Warnham NR this afternoon, I was slightly worried. A bittern had been spotted yesterday and, according to the warden and a few other birders, it was still there. So while I was looking forward to a potential 'lifer', I also remembered Blashford Lakes where I was THE ONLY PERSON in the hide who failed to catch a glimpse of the bittern. I was determined not to leave the Heron Hide before I had seen it as well, and without bins!!

Guess what, I did see it! My first ever bittern. It was hiding, pretending to be a reed, far away on the other side of the lake but hey, it was there! I can even prove it. Trust me, there is a bittern in there somewhere!

No? Can't see it? OK, let me help you:

Not the worst record shot of all time either! Quite pleased actually that although it was so far away you can still see what it is.

I have finally seen a bittern! :)

A great day!

Having dipped on waxwings about 6 times so far this year, I was getting a bit frustrated. On Tuesday night, I read about a waxwing sighting in Crawley, West Sussex - about 20 minutes from here. Were we finally going to connect with these beautiful Scandinavian birds again?

When we arrived in Crawley (Southgate) yesterday morning, they were indeed there, 17 of them, perched high up in a tree. This was promising! And the sun was shining! They were trilling away and I thought they'd come down to the apple tree they had been feeding in any second. After a few minutes, they did all take off...and disappeared. Nooooooo! We waited another 55 minutes but they didn't return and it was getting really chilly, despite the sunshine. D'oh! :(

So we decided to pop down to Warnham Nature Reserve and come back for the waxwings later.

Within five minutes of arriving in the Woodpecker Hide we got lucky and got the shots we'd been wanting for weeks: one of the male sparrowhawk that perched right in front of us for a few seconds and one of a beautiful marsh tit. And in decent light...yeah!

Marshtit:

Sparrowhawk:

After a great couple of hours watching woodland birds, we went back to Crawley but the waxwings didn't appear to be there. We were about to drive off again when I spotted the waxwings up in the high tree. The light was now perfect - but would the waxwings eventually feed on the apples again? So we waited for about 20 minutes and they finally did descend onto the apple tree - about 24 of them! Absolutely fantastic!!!! We got some lovely shots and had enough time to also stop to just watch them. Wonderful birds.... :)

A great day indeed!