Sun, clouds and snow - Part 1

Friday was going to be a sunny day - well, thank you yet again to the Met Office for getting it all wrong. By the time we arrived at Warnham (they don't open until 10), clouds had put an end to the prospect of good light for photographing woodland birds.

The gate was still locked and a few birders were waiting, among them Pagham Birder - whose blog I always follow with great interest - and his grandson and it was lovely to catch up! They were hoping to see a brambling or two; unfortunately the only time one of the females made a brief appearance was when they had just left the hide for a few minutes. For some reason, the Warnham bramblings are terribly flighty and both times the bird showed, someone walked past or into the hide talking loudly, spooking all of the finches. Some people seriously seem to think that the definition of 'bird hide' is 'a great place to have chats and picnics with friends'. Incredibly annoying, time and time again!

Female brambling grabbing a few sunflower seeds before disappearing again.

BTW, 'my' brambling is still gracing our garden with her presence - she too is very easily spooked, maybe it's a brambling thing.

Anyhow, as always, it was wonderful to watch the many woodland birds and listen to them chirping. Very enjoyable. Even the sun came out a few times.

Female blackbird looking very smart.

Peanuts for breakfast? Don't mind if I do! Jay.

 

Long-tailed tit calling. So cute!

I've never seen so many siskins at Warnham as this winter.

Female siskins.

 

Male siskins.

Warnham's got to be the best place in Sussex to watch and photograph siskins and redpolls!

 

 

 Lesser redpolls

The males are now coming into breeding plumage. Beautiful!

 

As I am not sure how many photos you can publish within one blog post, I'd better stop here...to be continued (see "Sun, clouds and snow - Part 2")!

Finches Galore at Warnham LNR

Robins, blackbirds and great tits have been singing for a while now and with a temperature of 10 degrees and glorious sunshine yesterday morning, it almost felt like a spring day. We decided to pop down to Warnham LNR, always a great place to visit - plus we hadn't been since last September, when the osprey was there.

In winter, I particularly enjoy spending time in Woodpecker Hide, watching the woodland birds. There's always a great selection of birds on and around the feeders, including reed buntings, marsh tits and even the occasional water rail. It is also where I found a common redpoll in March 2011.

I was hoping we might spot a brambling - not an easy bird to catch up with in Sussex. I had not actually seen one at Warnham before, although I do know they used to turn up most winters - but not in the last couple of years.

So we spent a very enjoyable afternoon watching (and listening to!) dozens and dozens of very vocal finches. Chaffinches, goldfinches, lesser redpolls - many males showing off their bright red heads and chests - a huge flock of siskins and a lone greenfinch.

 Male lesser redpoll - isn't he beautiful?

Male siskin posing for the camera.

 Female lesser redpoll, looking pretty in the sunshine.

Female siskin, beautifully marked.

And then I spotted her in the big tree behind the feeders: a female brambling! She eventually landed on the ground and started feeding alongside chaffinches, siskins, redpolls and reed buntings. Oh, and two moorhens and a pair of mallards!

  Little beauty!

Enjoying the sunflower seed.

 Beautiful markings on her back and wings...

A second female brambling also made an apperance, as did a small flock of long-tailed tits. These little cuties never fail to make me smile!

Just as we were about to leave, a male great-spotted woodpecker appeared and wanted to have his photo taken. I happily obliged!

I'm already looking forward to our next visit to Warnham!

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!!!! :)

New Forest

On Wednesday, we decided to spend the day birding in the New Forest. Quite a drive but we were hoping to finally connect with a Dartford warbler - the last one we saw was at Pagham Harbour last October. None on Ashdown Forest so far this year, which is a bit worrying - I hope they all survived the winter!

Our first stop was at Blashford Lakes. We saw a lovely female lapwing from Tern Hide and a wonderful, fluffy little grebe in breeding plumage, goldeneye and gadwall (no water pipit, snipe, sandmartin or ringed plover though!).

Female lapwing

Little grebe

We then moved on to the Woodland Hide where I was hoping to get a few more shots of brambling before they all fly off to their breeding grounds. After about 10 minutes a beautiful female appeared and I got some nice shots of her (much better than the poor record shot I got before!), followed by at least 4 lovely males, all coming into breeding plumage (one looked particularly smart).

Female brambling

Male brambling

We also had lovely views of a nuthatch, a coal tit collecting nesting material, a siskin, a lesser redpoll, a greenfinch, a wren and some blue tits.

We then tried 'Picket Post' heath but could not find any Dartford warblers. There were loads of meadow pipits, a raven and a fantastic buzzard circling right above us.

Buzzard

I also saw a common lizard enjoying the sunshine.

And of course there were some beautiful ponies! Being a horse person, I always love seeing them.


Young New Forest pony

So we drove around for another 20 minutes trying to find a certain site that we know is supposed to be good for Dartfords. Again we walked around for what felt like 50 miles but no Darties. More ponies of course, a mistle thrush, meadow pipits, skylarks and stonechats. Time to give up?

All of a sudden, on the way back to the car we thought we could hear the song we had been hoping for all day...and scanning the gorse nearby we saw him: a fantastic male Dartford warbler! Brilliant!

Male Dartford warbler

We also saw the female perched on top of the gorse behind the male.

Female Dartford warbler

Looking up, I noticed a bird of prey flying low over the heath. Wow, a beautiful male hen harrier - a lifer!

What a great day!