Top Paragraph

Pagham Birder: The Blog

A regular account of the birds seen mainly on and around Pagham Spit, the Lagoon and the North Wall plus other birding exploits from time to time.
Any news of interest regarding the ongoing erosion problems on Pagham Beach will, from now on, be shown on my other blog together with general beach photos.. Click on the link... Pagham Beach Blog on this page.

Monday, October 12, 2015

The annual pilgrimage to Cissbury Ring....

I've tried for several years to capture a Ring Ouzel...on camera! For the past 2 years I have made several visits at this peak migration time for them and have not even seen an Ouzel! During the past few days several have been seen by many observers with some good photos of the birds posing for their photos, so today was going to be my turn!
Alas, a visit to 'the' yew tree produced nothing and after a wander round the 'ring' met up with some fellow photographers and then began to circumnavigate the ring again when, all of a sudden, two Ring Ouzels appeared in the top of a tall ivy clump at the back of the flint mines....only for about five seconds mind you! By the time the camera was raised they were off but  I managed to capture a few record shots...sufficient to make a positive I.D. as there were a number of Blackbirds about which was confusing and raised our hopes on several occasions! Not good, but as I only had a nano second glimpse of another in the Yew Tree I was pleased to get even these shots!




  However, it was a beautiful Autumn morning although a tad cold but nevertheless enjoyable. There were a few migrants about with Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and a small flock of House Martins flying south. Mixed flocks of finches were present and a couple of Goldcrests were feeding in 'the' Yew tree.
One of the finches...a rather poorly presented Goldfinch
Britains smallest bird...the Goldcrest
There are plenty of berries for the Ring Ouzels!

Constantly on the move




Enjoying the insects on 'the' yew tree.



 A good but slightly frustrating morning....another try perhaps before the Ouzel season is over...
perhaps they will pose for me next time!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Best photos of Goldcrests I've ever seen!