Bean Geese Alert !

Had a telephone call from local birder (Tim Edwards) after lunch to say he had just located some Bean Geese from the North Wall. As it happened I was just about to set out to obtain better photographs of the Water Rail as the light had improved so quick change of plan to look for Tim and the geese. As I arrived Tim had started walking over the fields to where he believed the geese had now gone....the old story...'should have been here 10 minutes ago'.
A long walk resulted in no success and we trundled back to the North Wall but then ....success...they had re-appeared. For the next hour we watched them feeding and enjoyed noting the dark brown head and neck and the bright orange legs and bill in the fast disappearing sunlight. They were really too far away for a photograph but I managed a very poor record shot...at least I know they are there....somewhere!! (Well maybe it just shows the location! )

An Even Colder Morning.

Frozen pipes and no water in the bathroom signified a cold start to the morning!

The Lagoon is 99% frozen over with a small patch of water occupied by gulls (including Meds)4 Pochard and a few Tuftys. A Water Rail was seen by one birder skating!

...but the place to watch is the sea ! Approximately 60 Great Crested Grebes, Slavonian Grebes, Red Throated Divers, Great northern Divers (2), Eider Ducks, Velvet Scoters, Common Scoters, Cormorants, Teal, Wigeon, Brent Geese and numerous Gulls...fantastic. Along the shoreline waders galore....Turnstone, Dunlin, Ringed Plovers, Grey Plovers, Curlew, Redshank. All in all good for birders but perhaps not so good for the birds being driven to the coast by the freezing conditions. Hopefully we should see some Smew if the temperatures don't improve!

A VERY cold morning!

Another even colder morning this morning and a very red pre-sunrise sky. Parts of the harbour were frozen and in places it looked quite arctic.
Grey plovers and Turnstones were feeding along the tide line and later in the morning as I made my way along the North Wall an obliging Water Rail found an ice free patch of water.

An early start

Up before breakfast this morning....VERY cold and VERY frosty. The edge of the harbour was frozen along the high tide line indicating it was really VERY cold in the middle of the night!
The Purple Sandpiper was difficult to locate as it was feeding on the Little Lagoon and could have been easily overlooked...it tended to merge into the seaweed and if I didn't expect it to be there I doubt if I would have seen it.
7 Female Goldeneye were accompanied by 2 drakes in the main channel occasinally throwing their heads back in there typical display 'mode'.
It was unusually still and totally windless which is quite uncommon for Pagham Spit and even the birdlife was quiet apart from a few Skylarks calling as they flew up from virtually under my feet.
Later in the morning I looked out the window to see a small flock of Gannets in the bay diving into the sea having obviously found some fish near the shoreline....always a wonderful sight and even better on a cold winters day from the warmth of the living room!

New Years Day

As we had friends arriving for lunch I wanted to ensure yesterdays birds were 'showing' well so I decided to have a quick walk round my patch to make sure! The Mediterranean Gulls were present but there was no sign of the Avocets. I arrived at the Little Lagoon to find a couple of birders 'scoping the pool and quickly ascertained that they had 'got' the Purple Sand...that's good as I could at least show my visitors this (for them) new 'tick'. We chatted about various birding things, as birders do and I learnt, amongst other snippits of information, about their experience of finding a Sardinian Warbler in Norfolk many years ago, and parted company.
A quick look at New Island for the resident Peregrine and yes, he was finising off a meal...Peregrines are always nice to show visitors.
As I was checking the gulls and waders I was suddenly aware of a pair of eyes looking at me from just the other side of the sea wall... a seal... another nice sight for visitors!
I wandered back along the beach and then checked that the Purple Sandpiper was still in position...had another chat with a birder directing him also to the sandpiper and headed for home...reasonably satisfied.
Our visitors duly arrived and we had a leisurely lunch before setting out along Pagham spit to see the 'special'birds. By 3.30 the light wasn't brilliant, there was no sign of the Purple Sandpiper or the Peregrines or the Seal or the Avocets or the Diver but there was a Redshank and a Teal and of course Brent Geese...and they I think enjoyed their birding walk despite my disappointment of not being able to show off some of Pagham Spits' specials!

New Years Eve.....a good day!!

Although dull, cloudy and cold and not suitable for photography it was an interesting quick walk around Pagham Spit this morning....my local patch.
Firstly several Mediterranean Gulls on the Lagoon and then a pair of Avocets in the harbour. The Purple Sandpiper seen a few weeks ago is back on the 'little' lagoon and showing very well at the eastern end. On the sea a Red Throated Diver was fising just off the shingle bank and all the usual waders with distant flocks of Golden plovers on the mudbanks in the harbour. Ducks included Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck, Pintail, Goldeneye and a few distant Red breasted Mergansers.

Thats it for 2008....Happy New Year to all my readers ...all 2 of you!!!!!

Christmas Day on Pagham Beach

No sign of a White Christmas here on the beach but 2 large flocks of Brent geese have just headed over the bungalow to feeding grounds near Elmer. 3 Shelducks have flown in off the sea and apart from a few Black Headed Gulls and a couple of Carrion Crows there is not much else about...at least not looking out from the comfort of a warm home! Mind you there is a bird in the oven and its starting to smell good!!
Happy Christmas to Everyone and make sure you get out this afternoon for a brisk walk...and don't forget your binoculars!