Sunday 9 March 2014

Thank You Weather!

With a morning of warm sunshine forecast I was out of the house this morning at 5.45am where as I drove down to Reculver 1 Little Owl was sitting on one of the telegraph poles. I had a brief drive around noting 2 Redwing and 1 Kestrel but otherwise pretty quiet. I had planned to walk along the seawall at Reculver to see if any migrants had made landfall yet and as the day warmed up, call in at Bishopstone Glen to look for butterflies. I started off at the towers where it was nice to hear my first singing Chiffchaff in a small bush and as I wandered down I noted c250 Brent Geese, 28 Oystercatcher, 18 Meadow Pipit, 1 Rock Pipit flew west calling, 12 Reed Bunting, 6 Mallard, 14 Redshank, 5 Ringed Plover and 4 Little Egret. As I arrived at Coldharbour, as usual I stopped for a while to listen for Bearded Tits, a scarce bird here and thankfully I could hear 1 calling. This is a nice year tick to add to the year list and after getting the sun behind me I set about trying to get a few shots, not an easy challenge with so many reeds to get in the way. The bird was constantly calling and showed quite well and not long after more calls could be heard coming through the reeds and eventually, 4 Bearded Tit were in front of me. In lovely sunshine and no one to get in the way I fired off a few shots, most shots had reeds in the way but a few managed to show in the open, it adds to the photo with the reeds I think or at least thats what I keep saying to myself!





Bearded Tit

 Moving on I noted 4 Dunlin, 3 Turnstone, 6 Pied Wagtail, 1 Shoveler, 1 Teal, 1 Sparrowhawk, 2 Yellowhammer with 1 male singing, 2 Siskin, 4 Skylark, 1 Peregrine and 1 Hummingbird Hawkmoth around the roman wall at the towers. At around 10am I drove the few minutes to Bishopstone Glen where I wanted to see if any butterflies were on the wing. It was really quite warm in the sheltered areas and I managed to find 4 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Comma, 3 Peacock and 1 Red Admiral.

Peacock 

Small Tortoiseshell

A stunning morning out and about with a few signs that migrants are moving through and perhaps next week some more would have arrived. More good news in that I have just purchased a Sigma 150mm Macro lens for butterfly and dragonfly photography which should arrive in the week, hopefully another step forward in quality in my photography.


7 comments:

  1. Like that last Beardie very much Marc :-)

    Buttelfies are all overwinterers at the moment, so not at there best, wont be long now before some nice fresh ones emerge for the new macro lens ;-)

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  2. Now I love the Bearded Tit, and you got it, fantastic.

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  3. Nice to see you happy Marc, you see, sometimes life is even kind to those that have to work. Nice photos as well.

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  4. Cheers Derek, all was not quiet though as the cyclists and dog owners clashed on a few occasions along the sea wall. I kept out of it today.

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  5. Great pics Marc, good luck with the new purchase :-)

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  6. Fantastic Marc, magnificent shots!
    I have to wait to go back to Spain later in spring to get the opportunity to shoots pics like these!!
    This bird is a must!

    I have answered your comment on Dragonfly World...

    Keep well and enjoy the good weather!

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