My World Of Wildlife

Yesterday I visited Warnham Nature Reserve, the weather was looking promising so I thought it would be quite good for some photography. When I got into the visitor centre they told me that there were 2 Red kites hanging around the lake. I was lucky as when I got into the first hide one of the first birds I saw was indeed a Red Kite. It was circling around on the far side of the lake. As I got it focused in my binoculars the bright red and orange really showed well when the sun hit it. On the lake there were the usual pair of Mute Swans, 2 Great Crested Grebes displaying in the distance and a Grey Wagtail also appeared in front of the hide. It was quite nice to see 2 Little Egrets, a new species for Warnham. On the feeders there were quite a few species including Redpoll, Siskin, Song Thrush, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Long-Tailed Tit, Reed Bunting and Blackbird. Robin Redpoll Redpoll Male Reed Bunting Female Reed Bunting ...

Yesterday I visited Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve for the first time, even though the weather was rubbish I saw some great birds. It was extremely windy when I got there, as I walked to the hide there were a flock of Goldfinch feeding on Teasel either side of the path. From the hide I could see around 100 Lapwing mixed in with around 25 Starlings. They kept on lifting up into the sky however I couldn't see any bird of prey around. In the distance there were 50 Wigeon as well as Teal and Shoveler in small groups around the water. It was also nice to see 11 Curlew from the hide, it was actually the first time I had seen a Curlew close-up. I hadn't realised how beautiful their plumage and how long their bill actually is. As we were walking out to the harbour over 250+ Lapwing lifted up high into the sky and started almost murmurating like starlings would. It was just amazing. Along the stream that leads to the sea there were 3 Little Grebe hidden within the reeds ...

As today looked sunny my mum, dog and I decided to head to Ashdown Forest. Overall it wasn't great for birding but the views almost made up for that. Although there were not many birds around I did see 2 Marsh Tits and a flock of Long-Tailed Tits and Blue Tits. Hidden among them was a Goldcrest. I also saw a Kestrel flying away from me. Apart from that it was very quiet! Due to the lack of birds to write about here is a few facts about Ashdown Forest: During the Norman time, Ashdown Forest was originally a deer hunting forest. It is the 'home' of Winnie-the-Pooh. Almost 2 thirds of its 6500 acres are heathland, amounting to 2.5% of the Uk's extent of this rare habitat.  

Recently I wrote a guest blog for Josie Hewitt, a great bird ringer, photographer and conservationist, about my love of wildlife photography. She also wrote a brilliant guest blog for me last year:  http://myathebirder.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/guest-blog-day-in-life-of-young-bird.html You can see my guest blog here:  http://blog.josiehewittphotography.co.uk/2016/02/gust-blog-mya-bambrick.html?m=1