I headed down to Southwick Canal this morning in the hope that the Red-necked Grebe that had been there up until Thursday would miraculously reappear! It didn't, no doubt will wait until Monday to pop back when I'm safely back at work! Wasn't a complete waste of time, a Great Northern Diver was miles away, a Kingfisher flew in and promptly disappeared, a Peregrine sat on the furthest possible building, a Little Grebe was in the marina bit but dived underwater as soon as I raised the camera , I was beginning to think the entire avian world was conspiring against me! Luckily a Black Redstart flew across the canal landed on a gorse bush right in front of me, posed for a couple of pics, then flew back across the canal! The sunrise was alright as well!!
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| Peregrine |
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| Cormorant |
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| Peregrine |
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| Great Northern Diver! |
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| Black Redstart |
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| Black Redstart |
Buoyed by my success with the Redstart I decided to head to Widewater as it's just up the road, wouldn't be muddy and I've had success with Kingfisher there before! I arrived in good time negotiating the carpark app with ease, started well with a Goosander and several Little Grebes!
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| Little Grebe with a fish! |
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| Goosander |
A Pied Wagtail was showing off right in front of me, a Redshank wandered the shoreline and a lone Brent Goose was snacking on the grass, nice to see one of these close up!
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Brent Goose |
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| Redshank, the only wader I saw |
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| Another fish bites the dust! |
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| Mute Swan, plenty of these on the water |
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| Widewater |
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| House Sparrow |
I had a wander on the beach but the only bit of was a small flock of Turnstones!
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| The beach |
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| Turnstone |
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| Herring Gull |
I headed back to the car, I had been scouring the far side, lots of decks and jetties where I've seen Kingfishers before, with no luck as I reached the car one flew past, hurrah!! But then it landed right in the corner as far away as it could be!!
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| Flying in |
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| Some final Little Grebes |
All in all a very nice walk in glorious sunshine, would have liked the Kingfisher a bit closer, but the Black Redstart was a bonus!!
