Late afternoon on Monday a report came in of a Snow Bunting on the beach at Sandy Point. With overcast still conditions forecast there was a very good chance it would stick around so I made up my mind to head there Tuesday morning. When I got up, others were already there and so was the Snow Bunting.
I arrived at the eastern tip of Hayling Island just after 9.00 AM and walked the short distance to the beach and of course the Snow Bunting. Like all Snow Bunting I have seen it was extremely approachable and conveniently flew from the beach to the rocks.
If all birds were like Snow Bunting I would take thousands of photographs of the same birds, as it is I took a lot of photographs of this Snow Bunting. It did not care about the number of persons present and at one point two dogs walked past within a metre of it and it didn't move relying ion the plumage to hide it amongst the shingle.
It was feeding on the seeds of this plant, the seeds getting stuck to the bill.
One of the rules of photographing Snow Buntings is that you have to get low to the ground. The Snow Bunting feeds mostly on the ground, finding seeds and insects amongst the shingle of its preferred habitats.
The Snow Bunting breeds all the way around the pole and then winters south as far as northern Europe. However I have seen on a few years ago at this time of year in the Azores.
Breeding above the tree line poses problems with predators and then nest in holes in rocks.
Migration starts with the males followed by the females and juvenile birds. This one is considered to be a juvenile. There have been several arriving on the south coast this year, but the normal area for them on passage and over wintering in the UK is the east coast, with Norfolk and Suffolk holding good sized flocks.
No the bird is not injured or hurt, it is wiping the remains of the seed shells off its beak on the rocks.
Several people walked by and asked what we were looking at, they had great difficulty in seeing the bird when we pointed it out feeding amongst the shingle.
It frequented an area between the cut through to the road and the end of the houses at the west end of the Sandy Point reserve. Mostly feeding on the seeds of the same plant found on the shingle.
I actually laid flat on the ground for this shot and managed to get back up again.
The Snow Bunting disappeared for awhile and I was able to concentrate on an immature Shag out on the sea behind us. This was a first for the year here in the county which was a nice surprise.
It eventually came closer to the beach and I was able to get down to sea level to photograph.
Smaller than the Cormorant, but when seen on its own can be confusing. The bill is not as stocky as a Cormorant and it usually swims with the head held at an angle. Overall it looks a slimmer bird than the cormorant.
I then decided to walk off around the reserve to Black Point in search of some auks or divers. We drew a blank on both, but did have a Kingfisher on the pontoon in the bay behind the Lifeboat Station.
Coming back the Snow Bunting was still entertaining the visitors, now feeding near the fence and in some sunshine.
There was a report of two Black Redstart in the area and walking back to the cut through. There was one female on the roof of the beach houses. Unfortunately both birds were females, the males are stunning but it was just nice to see these, there appears to have been an influx of this species over the last few days too.
Snow Buntings are one of those birds that attract the photographers, but they are also a special bird due to where they come from. It has been a while since I have seen one in Hampshire so this was a special day. To add two quality birds in Shag and Black Redstart was a Bonus.
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