A good sprinkling of birds....Autumn on the way!

As soon as I arrived at the North Wall this morning a Hobby flew in a straight line fast across the harbour disappearing over Honer Farm...no photo (caught me unprepared!)

Then a Reed Bunting perched on a branch and eyed me up and down for a few seconds.

 The Breech Pool held numerous waders...the highlight being five Little Stint...here's a couple.

Two Avocets were present but later flew off to the mud bank in the harbour.

Avocet with Dunlin

A closer look at the Avocet.

The cattle were in the field so I was hoping a few Yellow Wagtails would have found them.
 I wasn't disappointed...there must have been fifty or so.

I'm sorry to put so many photos on but the numbers were impressive!

A Whitethroat was feeding up on blackberries...

There was a Whinchat and a Wheatear on the wire fence behind the pool  and several Robins were present...I have noted an influx on the Spit during the past few days as well.

Can someone please enlighten me as to the caterpillar species which is currently stripping my silver birch!

Buff Tips (thanks Dave )

                                                               

A new garden 'tick' !

At 8.00pm  this evening  I was relaxing after the heat of the day  in our  summer house when suddenly I became aware of a Pied Flycatcher in our one and only tree! Fortunately I was able to lay my hands on the camera but as the light was fading I had to push the ISO to 16,ooo! (never used it before) but managed a couple of record shots.

Not perfect I know, but there is no doubt about the identity of the bird.
Garden tick list now 110.

There have been 3 Wheatears in and around the garden today.

A very hot day!

A quick walk to the Breech Pool revealed a couple of Common Sandpipers and most of the usual contenders....Black Tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Curlew etc.

Rather more unusually a pair  of Avocets dropped into the Breech Pool....

....at ...at the far side of the pool so really too distant for a photograph.

A distant shot of a Whimbrel.

 Flight shot of Black Tailed Godwit

A pair of Grey Wagtails were at the Sluice Gate but I was not quick enough to capture.


Back home a Wheatear was present on the fence!

The best photo of the morning on my doorstep!

Incidentally a Black Swan has been frequenting the Lagoon for the past few days.

An interesting morning!

A walk around the harbour early this morning proved particularly rewarding as I stumbled on a bird which proved to be an Aquatic Warbler but it wasn't until I returned home that I  realised my good fortune...

The bird suddenly appeared in a bush adjacent to Owl Point in Pagham Harbour at 8.30 this morning near to where I had just located a Whinchat which had moved on from its spot and I had wrongly assumed this was the same bird. It was perched high on a bush in typical Whinchat fashion and as I  was looking at it against the light  it was difficult to see the distinctive markings on the back. The original photographs on the camera screen looked poor and not until I had processed then on the computer did I realise this was not a Whinchat!  Initially I thought it was just another Sedge Warbler but then I realised this was something 'different'. I couldn't get a reply from the local birders who I knew would confirm ID and it wasn't until the evening that I received confirmation...as it happens, the 200th bird for the Selsey Peninsular this year, so I'm told!
Just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

 Here are few of my pics...

Aquatic Warbler..usually a skulking bird!

Rear view...showing the pointed tail feathers

Wow...what a bird!

 It was a good morning for warblers and a couple of Garden Warblers showed up not too far away..

Whitethroats were showing along the hedgerows....

Goldfinch flocks were feeding on the weed seeds and this Greypate was particularly obliging...

A large flock of waders suddenly took off from the Breech pool on my return but I could not see the cause of the disturbance....

 Redshanks and a Spotted Redshank

Black Tailed Godwits

Lapwings

Serenity at the sluice gate.

A superb morning walk around the harbour and what a fortunate find!

This morning I had hoped to photograph a Whinchat that had been present over the weekend on the spit but I could find no trace of it this morning. So after a good look round I gave up and decided to see what else was about. At the North Wall a Sedge Warbler peered out of a hawthorn bush...

The usual contenders were on the Breech Pool...

...but this Dunlin caught my eye with a wonderful reflection 

Spotted Redshank with Mallard

Black Tailed Godwit preening.

Redshank

Greenshank

A Whimbrel near the sluice gate

Back on the Spit a Goldfinch was feeding on a seed head....

...and then posed on a bramble before flying off.

Several Linnets were forming a small flock in the gorse...this male looked particularly resplendent in the sunshine!

Maybe the Whinchat will show up tomorrow!