Rye for a Sandwich.

Last weekend, during a very early morning visit to Rye Harbour N.R. on another sunny but extremely windy day, I appeared to be the only occupant on this extensive shingle foreshore. With high tide many hours away the peace and quiet was regularly interrupted by the distinctive, loud, grating 'kerrick ... kerrick' calls of one of the nesting Tern species as they headed offshore to hunt for a meal. I don't profess to be particularly adept at photographing white birds in flight ...... it is definitely a challenge .... but with time on my hands I felt it was worth waiting to see what might be possible. 

 

Initial shots were like the one above with the birds returning from fishing but all too distant for the lens.... but eventually my luck changed as a few flew nearly directly overhead. However they constantly decided to either jink left or right before disappearing at an alarming rate of knots towards their nesting colonies on the adjacent inland pools. My patience was wearing a little thin but after trying numerous different settings .... success.  

 Sandwich Tern (Sternus sandvicensis) carrying a fishy meal.

[Shot at 1/1600; f.11; ISO 400 @ 130mm]

Not easy to pick out its distinct features from below but the complete black cap combined with the yellow tip on the long narrow black bill plus the large wingspan (typically 85 - 97cm) clearly says this is an adult in its full summer plumage. 

This side on shot of another individual clearly shows the darker outer primaries ... this wedge shape will eventually darken with wear. The partial white forehead indicates that this is an adult but still showing signs of its winter plumage.  FAB.

Check out WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY for more glorious images from around the globe.

Birding with Friends (Part 1).

A reasonably early start on Tuesday to drive to the south coast to meet up with David and June at  Rye Harbour Nature Reserve.  After a welcome cuppa in their holiday home we headed out onto the reserve with overcast skies and a very cold 'arctic' wind. With Skylarks singing, Linnets twittering and a distant Cuckoo calling our first waders were a small group of Avocets.    

Distant Avocets.

From a new hide overlooking open pools and shingle ridges we spotted Common Terns, 3 Little Terns, Knot, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Oystercatchers and Dunlin.  

Moving onto one of the hides overlooking the Ternery Pool. 

View of the nesting Gulls and Terns. 

A search with the bins soon revealed a few Common Gulls, large numbers of Mediterranean Gulls on the furthest bank, with their striking black heads and deep red bills, hidden amoungst the vast numbers of Black-headed Gulls that are so inappropriately named as the head colour is brown!  

Black-headed Gull.

With water levels so high, many of the shingle islands are still submerged so there is a premium on any available nesting space and the air was full of the constant scolding calls as the gulls and terns endeavoured to protect their alloted spaces.

Common Tern

We eventually moved onto another hide where there was very little close activity apart from a couple of Redshank feeding along the waters edge who provided a photo opportunity.

Common Redshank

Common Tern (Red bill with black tip).

Fly past by a Sandwich Tern (Black bill with yellow tip).

Other sightings included Little Egret, Mallard, Coot, Tufted Duck, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, Cormorant, Lapwing and Sedge Warbler. The weather conditions worsened with the wind increasing and a rain front moved through so with freezing fingers we decided to return to the holiday home to warm up and eat our packed lunch and to decide on the destination for the afternoon (Part 2).    FAB.  

Terns on a post.

I am going to be “off line” for at while. On Wednesday I expect to learn which jobs are ‘at risk’ at work and immediately thereafter I will be away from home (without internet access) but will tell you more when I “go live” again later this month.

In the meantime I thought I would share a couple of Tern images taken at Rye Harbour NR a few years ago, using my old Olympus OM01 attached to a Kowa scope with a photo adaptor, shot on old fashion film and then the prints have been scanned, hence the grainy pictures.

Common Tern

Sandwich Tern

Happy wildlife watching. FAB

Rye Harbour N.R.

On Sunday Anita and I ventured to the south coast for a gentle four hours walk at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. A sunny, clear day but with a fairly strong SW breeze and lots of people visiting the area as part of the RX Wildlife Festival. First sightings were lots of House Sparrows around the car park, Collared Dove and the sounds of Skylarks ascending above the tidal marsh. With high tide fast approaching the water enthusiasts were heading down the channel towards the sea.

We heard a wagtail calling and eventually got onto this single Yellow Wagtail who moved from perch to perch very frequently but I eventually managed a half decent record shot.
On the other side of the roadway we had distant views of Oystercatcher, Redshank, Black-headed, Common and Herring Gulls plus a single Mediterranean Gull flying around while a pair of Kestrels appeared overhead.

Kestrel

At the Lime Kiln Cottage Information centre there are various posts with mosaics depicting the various flora and fauna that can be found on the reserve. These are two pics of 'Tern' (a summer visitor) and the ‘Bittern’ (a winter visitor). As we headed towards the shingle beach we added Dunnock, Woodpigeon, Crow and Lapwing. Anita caught sight of a pair of distant Wheatears while I was watching a pair of Ringed Plovers guarding their nest site. We headed out onto the shingle ridge overlooking the sea and watched Common, Sandwich plus a single Little Tern flying past.

Not ideal light as the sun was on my left but here are two shots of a Sandwich Tern [note the yellow tip to the black bill] searching for a meal.

Sandwich Tern

After scoffing our packed lunch we headed for the Ternery Pool which has been very busy with around 1600 pairs of Black-headed Gull, 90 Pairs of Mediterranean Gull, 500 pairs Sandwich Tern and Common Terns gradually finding space as the Black-headed Gull chicks disperse to the margins.

Black-headed mum & chicks.

Herring Gull (the predator?)

Whilst scanning the colonies on one of the islands the noise level increased dramatically as a large opportunistic Herring Gull flew in and snatched a Black-headed chick for its dinner! Other inhabitants around the pool were Mute Swan, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Shelduck, Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Redshank, Dunlin and Starlings. Redshank & female Mallard

A short detour behind the pool produced Linnet, Whitethroat, a hidden Reed Warbler rhythmically singing from within deep cover of the reeds plus a distant calling Cuckoo and a fly past of a pair of Cormorants and Swallows. The most colourful flora was Yellow Horned Poppy.
We also saw a few butterflies; Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, Common Blue and Painted Lady so I've kept a few photos back for a future post.