30th May - RSPB Pagham Harbour and Woolbeding Common, West Sussex

The weather has been awful the las week and today was not any different. Rain and drizzle in the early morning meant I didn't go anywhere, but as the sun started to appear between showers I thought I should try for the Red-necked Phalarope reported this morning from Pagham Harbour.

This is not an easy bird to catch up with in the autumn so it was good to get the chance to see on earlier in the year.  The traffic was not too bad and I made it to the car park in quite good time.  When I first visited Pagham back in the late eighties there was a shed over looking the road to see the Ferry Pool.  This used to be a magnet for waders in the autumn and I can recall looking over the railing at Little Stints and Curlew Sandpipers below.  This doesn't happen today, another difference today was the hide.  A very nice platform and windowed hide.  I climbed the steps and scanned the pool, and of course the phalarope was almost at the back of the pool.

So it was a mixture of heavily cropped photographs and some phone scoped images.

Such a shame it was so far away as the Red-necked Phalarope looks very smart at this time of year.  I recall having them bobbing around in the waves of pools in Iceland.  

This phone scoped image was of an Avocet chasing it away, at the time the hope was it would fly closer, but the Avocet didn't really put its heart into the chase, the phalarope being too small.

Smaller than the Grey Phalarope, it has a distinctive needle like bill.  Typically the head and neck is held high as it spins around jabbing at the surface of the water for insects.  This looks like a male, there being much more white on the throat, with longer buff lines down the side of the neck.  The rufous band on the neck is also much brighter on the female.

This give a good view of the jizz of the bird as it fed.

Having sheltered from a sharp shower in the hide I came back out, scanned the pool where there was a single Dunlin and several Redshank along with the Avocet.  Overhead there were Swifts, Swallows and House Martins.

Clearly the phalarope was not going to come closer so I headed back to the car and moved on.

I had seen reports of Honey Buzzards showing well at a view point at Woolbeding Common, just west of Midhurst, so I decided to give it a go.  It is a narrow road that leads to the car park, but I made it alright and the walked over to the view point and was very impressed with what I saw.

Almost immediately a bird of prey drifted past below us, unfortunately it was a Common Buzzard, but it gave me the opportunity to check the key Buzzard features

Other birds appeared and I picked up to very distant Honey Buzzards the y were soaring on the distinctive flat wings, the tail much longer as was the neck and head.  Unfortunately they drifted away and over the ridge behind me.  A bird of prey did appear again but of course it was another Buzzard.

The sun and fluffy clouds were then replaced with dark black clouds that turned into a very sharp shower.

I made my way to the car for shelter, but the shower did not last long and a patch of blue sky appeared.  I headed back to the view point and scanned the horizon.  Nothing was showing but a familiar call in front of me produced a very confiding Woodlark on a dead tree.

The Woodlark wasn't the only surprise, a pair of Hawfinch flew over calling.  The blue sky was going though and things did not look good.  Another Buzzard appeared, tried to make it into t a Honey as it drifted closer, but it was a Common

The rain then came and I decided to call it a day and headed back to the car.  Can't call it a failure as I did get a year tick in the Red-necked Phalarope and a nice view of the Woodlark