I went down to patrington Haven for a look at the waders yesterday morning.High tide was around 6.00am so I thought it would be good to get there for then.
The first bird I saw when I got there was a hunting marsh harrier,(a good start) then there was a couple of sedge warblers feeding young along the drain bank.
The trick about not scaring the birds at pat Haven is to keep your silouette off the sky line so instead of oging straight over the bank I stayed down on the track and walked to the pumping station.
On the way down there was goldfinches,meadow pipits,2 wheatears and pied wagtails.Also the hirundines had just started to feed.Withe the sun on my back it was easier to get over the top of the bank in the shadow of the sub-station and I could watch the birds virtually undetected.
The sheer amount of bird down there is unbelievable especially the waders.
By now the tide had started to ebb and the birds had become more active, there was at least 5 species of gull, golden plovers (including one rather well marked darker bird) grey plover,curlew,whimbrel,greenshank,ruff,green sandpiper,oystercatcher,dunlin,hundreds of knot.
There was also at least 7 little egrets.
As the tide ebbed futher most of the birds moved off this sight in itself was an absolute spectacle.
The probem with Pat Haven as far as photography goes is that you cannot get that close to the birds, but a rather nice hollow near the edge of the bank brings the birds that much closer.
I thought it might be woth setting up a small hide before the next high tide and waiting for the birs to come in as the tide flooded, so at about 2.30 in the afternoon I came back, set up my hide and waited.
It wasn't long before a flock of redshanks dropped in ( if I could fool these then I could fool anything!).
These were closely followed by a pair of greenshank and then a party of knot.
The best was saved to last, normally I cannot get within 200m of a little egret, but a pair came within 15m, absoultely fantastic!
This was one experiment that I was really pleased with and I will certainly be giving it a go again.
The first bird I saw when I got there was a hunting marsh harrier,(a good start) then there was a couple of sedge warblers feeding young along the drain bank.
The trick about not scaring the birds at pat Haven is to keep your silouette off the sky line so instead of oging straight over the bank I stayed down on the track and walked to the pumping station.
On the way down there was goldfinches,meadow pipits,2 wheatears and pied wagtails.Also the hirundines had just started to feed.Withe the sun on my back it was easier to get over the top of the bank in the shadow of the sub-station and I could watch the birds virtually undetected.
The sheer amount of bird down there is unbelievable especially the waders.
By now the tide had started to ebb and the birds had become more active, there was at least 5 species of gull, golden plovers (including one rather well marked darker bird) grey plover,curlew,whimbrel,greenshank,ruff,green sandpiper,oystercatcher,dunlin,hundreds of knot.
There was also at least 7 little egrets.
As the tide ebbed futher most of the birds moved off this sight in itself was an absolute spectacle.
The probem with Pat Haven as far as photography goes is that you cannot get that close to the birds, but a rather nice hollow near the edge of the bank brings the birds that much closer.
I thought it might be woth setting up a small hide before the next high tide and waiting for the birs to come in as the tide flooded, so at about 2.30 in the afternoon I came back, set up my hide and waited.
It wasn't long before a flock of redshanks dropped in ( if I could fool these then I could fool anything!).
These were closely followed by a pair of greenshank and then a party of knot.
The best was saved to last, normally I cannot get within 200m of a little egret, but a pair came within 15m, absoultely fantastic!
This was one experiment that I was really pleased with and I will certainly be giving it a go again.
