Squacco Heron...success at last!

7.00am at the North Wall and there it was circling the field just south of Halsey Farm. Managed to secrete myself behind the bushes and slowly it emerged from a dry ditch through the tall grass....stalking grasshoppers. Not an easy subject to photograph due to distance and the long grass but here are a few shots of the many taken.

At least a record of a UK tick for me and a first for the Selsey Peninsular records book.
A bonus came when two Cattle Egrets decided to join the Squacco...

An unusual sight for Pagham ...from left to right...Squacco Heron(typical view in long grass), Little Egret and two Cattle Egrets.
Just to add to the excitement a Kingfisher was flying up and down the rife to the left of me.

A good morning.

 Later in the morning back at base a Green Woodpecker visited the bird bath and after drinking decided on a bath.

Clean but a little bedraggled.

Today has been one of those days of not being at the right place at the right time having spent 2 hours this morning and another 2 hours this afternoon waiting to catch a glimpse of the Squacco Heron. On both occasions I was told I "should have been here 10 minutes ago!" Tomorrow is another day but I only have a short window of opportunity early in the day.
During the week I have been keeping an eye out for early migrants and on Friday did find my first 2 returning Wheatears on Pagham Spit. We also had 5 Willow Warblers  and a Blackcap in a birch tree in the garden on Thursday so I thought the North Wall would be good but I could only find a single Whitethroat!

 A Magpie was deciding which way to go

 ...and the 2 Cattle Egrets were on the high tide roost site.

Wader numbers are increasing and a few small mixed flocks (Dunlin and Turnstone) were  wheeling around at high tide.

Today the Egret roost held good numbers of Little Egrets plus the now usual Cattle Egrets...but no Squacco!

 Butterflies were the highlight on the beach with scores of Painted Ladies visiting the buddleia.

Hopefully the Squacco will remain until I can 'tick' it!

A short but rewarding visit to the North Wall.

As I arrived at the reserve this morning I was greeted with a chap who said there was a Marsh Harrier in a hawthorn bush. Sure enough on looking over the Breech pool I had  distant view of a very dark plumaged,creamy headed individual....apparently a juvenile (confirmed by Owen who arrived shortly afterwards)

Distant Marsh Harrier

On turning around and looking along Whites Creek from the sluice gate I got a good view of a splendid summer plumage Spotted Redshank...

On the opposite bank and a little further away a Greenshank....

In the far distance a pair of Yellow Legged Gulls (possibly three) but too far away even for a record shot.

...but then, another couple of birds almost too far away but irresistible to photograph were two Cattle Egrets in bushes on the usual high water egret roost site towards owl copse.

Apart from these good birds a  couple of Whimbrel were present out on the mudflats and a lonely Curlew was feeding by the wall ........

...plus a small flock of Curlews flying from Honer fields to the harbour.

Short and sweet but a pleasant 45 minutes!

A few photos from earlier...

Pyramidal Orchid along the North Wall July 2

Partial eclipse of the moon 
July 16

...and finally an Emperor dragonfly on the garden pond.

 ....and that's it for now

Medmerry.

I usually listen to BBC Radio 4 'Tweet of the Day' at 6.00 every morning and today it was the turn  Bill Oddy expounding on the spread of the Little Ringed Plover in the U.K. and highlighting its call notes/song. As it happened I was visiting the Medmerry RSPB Reserve today and first up was a Little Ringed Plover showing very well next to the Stilt Pools....

 There was a distant Common Sandpiper and a Green Sandpiper called as it dropped in on the far side of the pools but the only wader within photographic distance was this Greenshank.

A Grey Heron was fishing in one of the channels...

Skylarks and Yellowhammers  were present with some in full song..

A rather perky looking individual.

Great bird but no Corn Buntings on this visit.

Really good to see all these farmland birds thriving here.

Stock Doves on fence post

...and one in flight.

A male Kestrel on the look out.

 Bees and Butterflies feeding on the variety of wild flowers

 Great to see this Marbled White

A very good morning.
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Incidentally Pagham Spit has the most Childing Pinks I've ever seen............
They are in places I have have never seen them before in the past 34 years!

The Common Tern from the North Wall, Pagham

I've missed any birds of interest in recent weeks along the North Wall but each visit produces a single Common Tern fishing in the Breech Pool...usually too far away for any decent photos. This was a frame filler as it flew overhead presumably returning to the nest site on Tern Island.
A few of the other attempts....

Little Egrets at the far end of the 'pool'

The last few days have produced many Painted Ladies...mostly tired looking specimens presumably resulting from their Channel crossing!

That's all for now....hopefully I will be more active soon!