What a contrast in the weather....cold and frosty and windless. Firstly a look around the Spit..

A Robin ...always welcome!

...and then to the hide where I was given a fantastic display by a pair of Red Breasted Mergansers...

Firstly the male arrived...

...and saw a distant male approaching

...then got into a bit of a tangle

...when a female arrived

..both males escorted the female

...when another female arrived on the scene!

This caused havoc! 

...and confusion  and ultimately all four birds pushed off.

In the afternoon I decided to go in search of a Firecrest...as bird of which  I have never got even a reasonable photo.

 I had received a tip of that within the WWT at Arundel there was a 'hot spot' ! Having tracked down the location I waited and eventually I could make out a tiny  bird in the midst of a large bramble patch. Yes it had a magnificent head dress and a prominent white stripe above the eye....BUT....would it show itself in the open? In and out of the thickest part of the bush,high up,low down and constantly on the move. What an impossible little critter to photograph...here are the best efforts....

It came out for half a second

...rapid fire at ten frames per second....

Make the most of it....

One quick flurry of activity and it was gone!!

Whilst in the Wildfowl Trust I had to have a look around to see what was about.
At the feeding station the usual candidates....,

Great Tit

Blue Tit

Mallards....the not so 'usual' candidates on a bird table!

Reed Bunting on a feeder (I don't generally like photos of birds on feeders but this is an exception)

Long Tailed Tit

Chaffinch (the duller female!)

I like even less, photographs of captive birds but here are few more exceptions!....

Red Crested Pochard 

Red Breasted Goose...close up.

Shelduck..(bathing)..might be genuine wild!

Genuine wild Gadwall. ( I think!)

Barrows Goldeneye...definitely NOT wild! (but what a bird!! )

Last but not least a genuine Water Rail through the misty glass of the main hall!!

 I will have to return to get that definitive photo of a Firecrest...that's bird photography!

My blogs of the last couple of days have mysteriously  disappeared!

Not a lot of activity but we have had a few very high tides. The Norton Spit was breached for a few days and these shot were taken Monday...

...but today with an even higher tide the amount of over topping was minimal..,see below

...the Oystercatchers, Dunlin and Grey Plover obviously liked the change of scenery.

Goldeneye in front of hide

Taking off and heading for the Lagoon

Fabulous ducks...drakes actually!

Great Crested Grebe in front of Spit hide.

That's it for today but see my Pagham Beach Blog for details of a program to be shown on BBC South on Monday Jan 18 at 7.30 regarding Pagham Beach and the harbour entrance,.

The morning dawned bright and sunny....but windy, again. A small bird darted across the Lagoon and landed on an overhanging branch...a fair distance from where I was standing...a real little jewel of a bird................

Kingfisher in the early morning sunshine.

What a start to the day...three minutes from my front door!

I headed towards the Spit hide and just sat and admired the many wader flocks moving around the harbour as the tide rose. Nothing unusual but here are a few shots just for the record...

One of the many wader flocks constantly changing position

Mixed flock of Dunlin, Knot and Grey Plover

Closer views as they swept past the hide

Knot and Dunlin 

Grey Plover in foreground 

A pleasant quarter of an hour to start the day! 

Nothing new about BUT.....

...the sun did shine!

So, a chance to get out with the camera with a view to photograph the Goldeneyes on Pagham Lagoon. From time to time during the day there were up to five birds present...three drakes and two females. Here's a few shots.....

Two drakes keep each other company.

 

I put this shot on my Flickr account...'cos I liked it!

...and a duller female

 And a  Mediterranean Gull bathing

 ...jumping up and down in the process.

Apart from that nothing unusual but plenty of Wigeon, Pintail, Teal,Shelduck, Mallard, 900 Brent Geese a few Red Breasted Mergansers, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, a drake Pochard, Redshank, Turnstone, Curlew, Dunlin, Knot, etc. etc.
 Pagham Harbour really does take a bit of beating!
 

Happy New Year and Happy Birding 2016

The start of the year has been abysmal as far as the weather is concerned and as age creeps on I fear I am becoming a 'fair weather' birder. There were a few bright periods today when I was able to walk the Spit to see what was about.
First thing this morning I watched a pair of Peregrines homing in on a Snipe. Again and again one would fly above it and the other would come in at high speed just below the poor bird,  panicking and zig-zagging away, before eventually shaking off both Peregrines...an amazing spectacle!

One of the Peregrines returning after failing to catch its breakfast.

Several Pintail were feeding in the shallows

...and a Great Crested Grebes was on the move..

Morning view towards Chichester cathedral

Same view....late afternoon light.

Along the beach just before sunset...a Turnstone..

Accommodating birds if approached slowly.

...and finally 

Late afternoon rainbow over Pagham Parish Church.