Saturday 24 December 2011

Hayling Island - 24th December

I had a brief visit to Hayling Island again today where two Great Northern Divers were showing quite well around the pontoon at the Ferry Boat Inn, where they were feeding mostly on crabs. One of the birds is a first winter and the other a winter plumage adult showing a small amount of remaining summer plumage. 

Juvenile Great Northern Diver 


The only other birds of note that I found were in Chichester Harbour from Sandy point where what is presumably the same adult winter Razorbill I saw last week was seen briefly close in before it moved further out into the harbour. Later there was a winter plumage Guillemot in the same area. 




Is was rather quiet otherwise so I had a little play with the camera and took some photos of the sea and beach using the Finepix HS20EXR and a neutral density filter.

Friday 23 December 2011

Patchlist 2012


Patchlist 2012 has moved, please now enter your details here www.goingbirding.co.uk

Good luck everyone

If you are interested in being involved then visit the site. The rules are simple. Select a four sided area no larger than 25 square kilometres (5x5km or 8x3km are appropriate) which is defined by its centre grid reference. This is your patch and you can count any wild, living, full species (BOU) you identify (seen or heard) in, over or from the defined area during the year. 

Monday 19 December 2011

Hayling Island and Warblington - 19th December


I haven't been able to get down to the coast for some time so it was nice to spend some time in the Langstone harbour area today. Unfortunately the drizzle set in mid morning but up until then it was very pleasant, there was no wind and the water was flat calm. My first stop was Budds Farm where yesterdays reported Scaup were nowhere to be seen, there were good numbers of Teal and other ducks here and a Water Rail called.

I soon moved on to Warblington where the reported Cattle Egret was still present and showing well. i suspect this is the same bird i found at The Kench on 2nd August and has since been residing on Thorney Island in West Sussex.



 Below is a Video of today's Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) showing well at Warblington near the Church



Later on SW Hayling near the Langstone Harbour entrance there was a Great Northern Diver and a juvenile Shag. The usual Med Gull (the distinctive bird with black legs) which has been returning to the same car park to winter for many years was easily found near the funfair.



Later in the afternoon i moved to Sandy point where birding was difficult in the rain but there was at least two Razorbill. Both birds showed well along the shore line at times together and it was possible to see differences in their bills and age them as an adult winter (above) and a first winter (below).


Sunday 4 December 2011

Birding and photography highlights 2011

Here is a video comprising just a few of my birding and photography highlights from the last year, mostly taken in Hampshire and neighbouring counties.

Friday 25 November 2011

Full HD Videos

In my attempts to find the best way to display video on the web I have tried a few option but settled on the obvious. Youtube makes sense really so i have re-uploaded the previously terrible looking Badger video Hampshire birding and Nature photography: Daylight Badger

And added various bits of footage to the new videos page, click the link on the left

Rich

Monday 21 November 2011

Fuji Finepix HS20 EXR - November 20th






I have recently purchased a Fuji Finepix HS20 EXR and today at Arundel Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust i gave it its first proper outing, the birds in the collection here are at close range of course but testing this camera in various situations on this family day out gave me a good idea of what its capable of.

I have generally slagged off bridge cameras in the past because I am a DSLR owner and obviously this will never be my first choice for wildlife (though perhaps for Macro work!) . However results in ideal shooting conditions are comparable with DSLR images when pixel peeping at 100%, not surprisingly it struggles in poor shooting conditions and that's when the differences become obvious, for example it is noisy at high ISO’s, however it does have lots of bells and whistles to deal with these kinds of issues and some interesting and potentially useful features.

It’s ideal for a family day out when you don’t want the hassle of carrying all the DSLR gear and it's capable of producing a decent wildlife image or at least a record shot! Full HD Video is good quality and with 16mp i'll  have plenty of scope for cropping to enlarge and still retaining enough detail for large prints. I could have bought a newer more expensive bridge camera but I had set a budget of £250 and this fitted all the specifications I required. I few images from Arundel above and below.







Tuesday 18 October 2011

Hook Acro - 16th October

An interesting Acrocephalus Warbler was found at Hook today which was in the end caught and ringed. Speculation about the ID ranged from Marsh Warbler to Blyth's Reed Warbler but in the hand it seemed it could only be a Reed Warbler perhaps of the eastern sub-species Fuscus. Here are a few pictures.







Wednesday 12 October 2011

Hayling Island - 11th October

I managed to spend three hours down on Hayling today where the shingle bar at The Kench had good numbers of the expected waders feeding as the tide dropped. There must be at least a thousand Brent Geese in the harbour now too. The only other bird of note here was a nice male Common Scoter hanging around the area until the tide dropped and it took flight and landed again on the water further out in the harbour.


I spent the last part of the afternoon with ACJ having a brief seawatch from Sandy PointThe highlight was this juvenile Arctic Skua which put on an excellent but brief show harassing a gull just offshore and over the beach.



Monday 3 October 2011

Pennington Marshes - 3rd October

I spent the morning on Hayling Island and having seen little else but a few Chiffchaffs, the news of a juv Rosy Starling at Pennington was quite welcome and after some initial hesitance i decided to go. The Starling took a little bit of work to track down amongst the several hundred common Starling and after a brief view perched on brambles and a few flight views it was pined down feeding on the deck in amongst the throng.



However it was picked up again in flight and disappeared off west into the distance mid afternoon.

It was good to once again connect with the Semi-palmated Sandpiper which was still showing well on the Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marshes.


So not a bad day at all!

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Pennington Marshes - 26th September


As it turned out i did manage to catch up with the Semi-palmated Sandpiper at Pennington Marshes, it showed well though to far away for good photos, with a group of Dunlin and associated closely at times with a Little Stint giving a nice comparison. I had assumed i would dip this one but the Sabine's Gulls at Sturt pond do continue to elude me.


Saturday 24 September 2011

Wrong place wrong time - 24th Sept


My week off work is just about at an end and Pallid Harrier was the undoubted highlight. In Hampshire terms I've been very unlucky. I've tried to cover most of the key sites and found very little of note. Just to rub it in good birds have literally turned up at sites I have visited the day or two days before, on days when I have other commitments. Some days I wish I was possessed by a simpler hobby, but that would be no fun would it.

Richard Ford - Wildlife Photography
http://www.digitalwildlife.co.uk

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Pallid Harrier, Burpham, West Sussex – 21st Sept 2011

What a bird, What a bird……
One of those twitches that had everything for me, we didn’t have to wait to long before it showed. When it did it showed for prolonged periods and performed brilliantly. If you were in the right place at the right time it showed well at close range allowing scrutiny of id features and good photographs. This bird has character, it gets a lot of attention from the local corvids, Kestrels and Buzzards give it hassle but it gives it back, on more than one occasion we saw it have a go at Crows and a Kestrels almost for fun, we watched it successfully hunting, feeding, preening and chasing Partridges (don’t tell the local game keeper) and best of all it looks AWSOME……

Here are a couple of photos, not doubt there will be more when I have sorted through them.






I also saw the Weir Wood Res, Long-toed Stint today (if that is what it is) which by comparison just isn’t worth mentioning.

Monday 19 September 2011

Pennington to Farlington - 18th Sept

I'm just about start another week off work and though i wont be able to get out every day i do hope to cover the Langstone Hbr area as much as possible with a few trips further afield and maybe out of county if necessary. Fingers crossed for some good birds and with any luck it will be me that finds them!!


Today i spent the morning and early afternoon a Pennington Marshes in the hope of connecting with the the Bairds Sandpiper again ideally on the Shoveler pools which has to be the only place with a chance of it being close enough for good photos. No sign all day despite plenty of people looking though it was reported early AM and late PM, to put it diplomatically those reports surprised me!! Hmmm.... anyway Grey Phal on the Normandy Lagoon was nice and there were Curlew Sands, Little Stints, Spotshanks and a fly over Osprey to keep things ticking over.

I dropped in on Farlington Lake and the stream on the way back where two Ruff and a Whinchat were the best of little else of note there.

Sunday 18 September 2011

Baird's Sandpiper, Pennington - 15th September

I bit of a mad dash to Pennington this afternoon in the hope of connecting with the reported Baird's Sandpiper. I had approximately four hours to spare which left me with two hours to see the bird, it seemed like enough time, but two hours turned into an hour and a half and when i arrived the bird hadn't been seen for some time, a few useful conversation and text were exchanged (thanks SI and SP) and i relocated the bird at the back of Butts Lagoon with half and hour to spare......Phew. I enjoyed some good scope views but sadly for photos it needed to be on the Shoveler pools. An added bonus during the afternoon was five flyover Spoonbills. I got home a bit late but no harm done and another Hants tick in the bag.

Two record shots below












Farlington - 31st August

Thanks to Martin Gillingham for todays Temminks Stint on the lake at Farlington, which showed well if distantly untill it flew off west.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

SE Hampshire - 21st-23rd August

I’ve been able to get out and about on and off over the last few days and aside from a brief visit to Pennington Marshes I have concentrated on trying to find migrants in the Langstone Harbour area, including Hayling Island and Farlington Marshes. Basically the expected areas such as Northney Paddocks and the bushes at Farlington have contained the expected Warblers such as, Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs, Blackcap and the odd Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitetroat and Spotted Flycatcher. Yellow Wagtails have been a near constant feature particularly at Farlington. There seems to be poor numbers of waders but the rubbish neap tide is giving them more options of high tide roost sites so they are less concentrated. A single Spotted Redshank is about as good as it has got. Singles of juv Curlew Sandpiper and juv Little Stint were the best of very few birds in the Pennington area on 21st Aug.

The undoubted highlight is the continued presence of two Ospreys in Langstone Harbour which are pretty easy to find but always distant. When they are not flying around, one bird seems to favour South Binness Island and the other uses marker posts (usually a red one) near to the west Hayling shore.

Friday 19 August 2011

Birdguides Photo of the Week: 4th–10th August

I guess i may as well point out on here that i was very pleased to be awarded photo of the week by Birdguides. http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictures.asp?mode=potw&rty=0&r=1&v=1&off=313143

In their summary they were also kind enough to say probably the nicest things ever to have been said about one of my photographs. See below:

Although our choice of Photo of the Week is based entirely on the image rather than who took it, regular readers of our PotW citations will have realised that we're always particularly pleased to be able to award people their first PotW, especially it they've been long-standing photo contributors. Bird photographer Richard Ford has been uploading images to BirdGuides since early 2004, at which point his Digital Wildlife website was already up and running. Richard's photography is very focused on the county of Hanpshire and he now maintains a blog of his birding and nature photography forays around that county. This week, visiting Hayling Island in the hope of picking up some migrants, Richard had to settle for pointing his camera at the local Sparrowhawk family sparring with crows. Lack of species interest, though, was more than made up for by some gorgeous evening light bathing the hawks, and Richard's pick of the session definitely made his visit worthwhile. The colour combination of the rich blue sky and the warm hues of the flying bird give this image instant appeal, after which the other qualities of the image start to hit the viewer: great bird, great pose, open bill, steep banking, dynamic angles, superb detail, the list goes on. As we've said before, a steeply banking bird front-lit by low altitude sunlight is a great recipe for successful flight shooting, but Richard's image goes way beyond the basic application of this technique.

Photo of the Week citation (admin), 11/08/11 11:37

Monday 8 August 2011

Titchfield Haven Roseate Tern, composite image



A composite of three other flight shots


Titchfield Haven – 7th August

After dipping Roseate Tern at Titchfield Haven last week I had been reluctant to make the trek over to Titchfield again for fear of another dipping session. But at least one bird had continued to be reported all week and this morning I felt I may as well give it another go. On my arrival I started to scan the small gathering of Terns on the beach in front of the sailing club to no avail, the tide was high and I expected to have to wait until the large number of Terns in the Solent returned to roost on the exposed shingle as the tide dropped. I could see there were a few Terns on the river and around the island near the visitors centre and so I wandered over to the viewing area and began to scan through them. It wasn't long before I noticed the Roseate Tern in the photographs below. 








Thursday 4 August 2011

SW Hayling Island - 3rd August

I popped down to Hayling again this evening in the hope of picking up some migrants or perhaps relocating yesterdays Cattle Egret, birding was still pretty heavy going and the best I could manage was two adult Yellow-legged Gulls at The Kench. There were also a few Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwits in the harbour among other Waders. The highlight was probably the local Sparrowhawk family putting on a good show with up to three juveniles flying around this evening harassing and being harassed by the local crows, as well as playfully dive bombing each other. Unfortunately much of the action was too fast to capture but I did get a few nice flight shots of which this was certainly the best. 



Tuesday 2 August 2011

SE Hampshire - 2nd August

Sunset over Langstone Harbour




I dropped into Farlington Marshes this afternoon to see if the high tide roost at the lake had anything to offer. It was quite impressive with thousands of waders roosting here but nothing out of the ordinary.

From Farlington I moved onto The Kench at SW Hayling Island where I was surprised to find a Cattle Egret out on the salt marsh early this evening. It was mobile and unfortunately I lost track of it and didn’t relocate it in the harbour despite looking until dusk.


Cattle Egret record shot




Thursday 28 July 2011

Titchfield Haven - 28th July


I spent the morning in the Titchfield Haven area where unfortunately I did not connect with any Roseate Terns, though there were one or two reports during the time I was there. However I did connect with two other interesting terns among the large numbers of Common Terns present in the area.



Adult Arctic Tern

Juvenile Black Tern



Sunset at the Kench, Hayling Island last night (27th July)



Sunday 24 July 2011

Hayling Island - 24th July 2011


Not a great deal or interest around the west of the Island this morning though two Yellow-legged Gulls and a Little Owlett were of some note.

Thursday 21 July 2011

Yellow-legged Gull, Hayling Island - July 2011


I have a few photos below of a Yellow-legged Gull that is currently frequenting the seafront near the funfair on Hayling Island. There is also a short video on my page here http://www.digitalwildlife.co.uk/videos/  in which you can see the bird among Herring Gulls for comparison.

There are also a few more pictures of this bird here