Elmley Winter Visits.

 Towards the end of 2024 Lisa and I visited Elmley. We had joined the Friends of Elmley back in late 2023, but had as yet not covered the cost with enough visits, so although we were unlikely to get full value from our membership, we managed to get pretty close. Elmley, from Sussex is a long way, so we were often put off by the drive.

However, we do love the place, and we always enjoy the odd visit we make. I have been going there for many years, either with Matt, or for some time, when I was a sales rep for a photographic company, I would sometimes drive all the way up the entrance track and back to see what I could spot.

For Lisa's birthday, I was planning on taking her to stay for a couple of nights in one of their shepherd huts, but during the winter we had 2 visits, one in late November and one in early February to give us a taste of what's to come when we stayed. 

As ever, the Short-eared Owls were seen in good numbers, along with Bearded Tit. These birds during the winter turn to eating seeds, instead of insects, and during this time can often be seen feeding on top of the reeds and reedmace. Brown Hares are also always a treat at Elmley. Other birds found in good numbers are Barn Owl, Marsh Harrier and some unexpected rarities.

Male Bearded Tit.

The trip in November also turned out to be quite an expensive trip for me, as after the camera failed to focus on an approaching male Hen Harrier, I decided to invest in a new Nikon mirrorless camera that appearing by many comments, was much quicker at focussing on birds in flight. I doubt if I will ever get such a good opportunity to photograph a male Hen Harrier as close as this one came, but hopefully the frustration of the camera not focussing quick enough will be a thing of the past. The only photo I kept from this memorable moment is below. Probably the worst photo I have ever posted here!!

Male Hen Harrier.

Following the purchase of the mirrorless camera I'm pleased to report that things have been much better with flying bird photos. 

The trip in early February was an improvement. Here I was using the mirrorless camera. Once again the Bearded Tits performed quite well, along with some Reed Bunting. However, needless to say, the male Hen Harrier didn't show at all!!

With most of the owls staying hidden until just before the reserve closed, very frustratingly, the day was saved by a fabulous Brown Hare, that we managed to get very close to as it fed on the grass along the footpath to one of the shepherd huts.

Male Bearded Tit doing the splits.

Female Reed Bunting.

Little Owl.

The amazing Brown Hare.

The Brown Hare gradually moving towards us.

And yet closer.

So close it now almost filled the frame.

This experience really saved the day for me, and probably is the experience that made us take the decision to book our visit to the shepherd hut. Our experience really was amazing, and will be the subject of my next post.

Hiding From The Fox.

 My good friend Phil recently invited Lisa and I to use his hide. It's been a while since I've been in the hide, and as ever it was a fabulous few hours that we spent there, this time in freezing conditions, but the visiting wildlife made us forget the discomfort that the cold weather gave us.

With many interesting birds paying us a visit, we had some lovely encounters with both Jay and Great-spotted Woodpeckers, before the main attraction arrived.

Jay with Acorn.

Jay with Acorn.

Female Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Male Great-spotted Woodpecker.

The main attraction turned up after several hours of waiting. A simply beautiful Fox, that slowly wandered into our vision, I was watching a male Pheasant walking towards us, when I saw the Fox a few meters further back. In fact I think the Pheasant saw the Fox at the same time as it suddenly took flight!! We were really lucky at this point as the Fox spent several minutes walking around the area in front of the hide, totally unaware that we were enjoying watching and photographing it. The advantage of having recently getting one of the new generation mirrorless cameras is that the shutter going off is silent. Phil has seen a couple of foxes in recent times at his hide, so we were hoping for this experience, but as ever with wildlife, there is absolutely no guarantees that the animals will show up, so we were extremely lucky, especially as the light was also perfect for photography.

A small selection of the numerous photos follow.

A truly beautiful Fox in tip top condition.

A massive thanks to Phil for his generosity in giving us this amazing opportunity in his wildlife haven.

Purple Patch.

 After failing to see Purple Sandpipers on Newhaven East pier for the past 2 winters, despite a few attempts, it was great to see that several had returned this winter, with around 8 seen. This is still well down on numbers from years gone by, but encouraging, all the same.

It was also a chance to try out the new camera on some birds that one could get pretty close to, so Lisa and I headed down to Newhaven, on a day that was not particularly bright. However, during our time there we were treated to around 30 minutes of unexpected sunshine.

Purple Sandpiper.

Ruddy Turnstone.

Purple Sandpiper in the sunshine.

I also wanted to see how well the camera would perform with flying birds. The main reason I changed the camera was that the cameras I normally use struggles at times with focussing on flying birds, and after missing a very close fly-by of a male Hen Harrier recently, I wanted to ensure that the new gear would be more reliable. I have always enjoyed watching and photographing the Fulmar, as they use the thermals just off the local chalk cliffs. It was quite early in the season for seeing these birds, so I didn't spend too much time there, but a couple of images gave me hope for success in future attempts. I just need that male Hen Harrier to fly close again!!

Fulmar.

Stonechat Madness.

 On one of my regular longer walks from home, I often encountered a pair of Stonechat which were particularly approachable. To be fair, this is often the case with this species, but this pair were even more approachable than usual. In the middle of January, with little else to photograph, I decided to carry my camera with a stronger telephoto on it, just to see if I could get a small set of photos of these delightful birds. Often when I try doing this with a particular bird, I get to the site and find they are not showing, but these birds were not going to let me down like that.

After a short bit of stalking them, I found I was able to get even closer than I had expected, especially with the female bird. I ended up getting nearly 100 photos of them, and believe me, that is a lot of photos from just one session for me!!

Male Stonechat.

Female Stonechat.

I enjoyed myself so much that a couple of days later I went to the same area again, and once again this pair of birds performed for me.

With no other birds worth photographing, I then took David there to have a go. I once again took my camera with me, and again came back with many pictures. This time the skies were a bit brighter. In fact at times, almost too bright.

Of course, with all this fun, Lisa then wanted to have a go, so by now the birds and I were almost on first name terms!!

However, they were not that surprised to see me again, and fortunately, they once again excelled in their new modelling careers. I guess at the end of all this I will not have to photograph another Stonechat. Although, given the right opportunity, I'm sure I will again very soon.

What made this day even more special, was that we also saw the Humpback Whale that had spent several weeks off the Sussex coast. Despite seeing several Humpback Whales in Antarctica, it was even more special seeing one here, where they are not so expected. It was far too way out to sea to photograph, but a great memory for both of us to see such a fabulous animal on our home patch.

Seaford Snow.

 Not long after returning from Antarctica, I had more snow in the form of a lovely male Snow Bunting. It took me several days to venture down to the Seaford beach where this lovely bird was performing for birdwatchers, dog walkers and other people that were just mystified by a small crowd of people looking at something tiny amongst the pebbles.

Although the bird was very approachable, often the way with Snow Bunting, it was still occasionally chased by dogs. This actually happened, just after my arrival, when a spaniel ran out of the car it had just arrived in, and promptly raced over to where the bird was feeding. Needless to say, the bird made a hasty retreat and flew some distance further along the beach. Fortunately, after several minutes it returned to its favourite feeding area. I quickly got a few photos in case another lively dog turned up!!

Although Snow Bunting are a rare winter visitor in Sussex, they do turn up all along the coast occasionally. Seaford seems to get one every 3 or 4 years.

Male Snow Bunting looking smart.

Snow Bunting having a wash to stay looking smart.

Does that look clean enough?

Antarctic Finale.

 And so we had nearly reached the end of our 3 week trip, and what a trip it had been.

Before we reached the dreaded Drake's Passage, which is a notorious stretch of water that we had to cross, we had some gorgeous panoramic views of the snowy mountains, with low clouds covering the peaks. This view went on for some time, and many photos were taken, although lots were very similar!!

The Drake's Passage took a couple of full days to get through, covering the vast seas between Antarctica and Ushuaia, the most southern city in the World. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful cities too.

As we first hit the famous passage, the wind was quite strong and we feared we would have both days struggling through it, but it wasn't very long at all before the wind dropped, and we had one of the calmest crossings that the crew could remember. We were extremely lucky, as this was the part of the trip that I had been dreading. 

Our final Antarctic views.

During the crossing we also had some good bird action, with many Prions, Albatrosses and Petrels to photograph. By now I had improved my skills at photographing flying birds. The Prions were the hardest by far as they were extremely quick in flight , and they changed direction all the time. Amazingly, I actually got a few decent shots of them. Prions are very similar and very difficult to identify, as they all look the same. It was assumed that all these are Antarctic Prions, but if anyone can confirm it would be appreciated.

Antarctic Prion.

Northern Royal Albatross.

Black-browed Albatross.

On our final night of the cruise at sea we were treated to a fantastic Drake's Passage sunset. What a fabulous finish.

Drake's Passage Sunset.

The following day we gradually got nearer to Ushuaia. As the light started to go we sailed with land each side of us. Chile on one side, Argentina on the other side. As the darkness arrived we were just a few miles away, docking around midnight.

The following day, we gathered all our belongings, and after our final breakfast, departed from the ship. Lisa had arranged for our luggage to be left in a local travel agents, so we could explore the local area. The city was surrounded by some spectacular snowy mountains, and several nature reserves. Unfortunately, our time was quite limited, but we did walk all along the seafront to a reserve with lakes and damp meadows where we saw some great birds, and even an American Beaver.

A couple of views of Ushuaia.

Only a short walk from the Ushuaia sign we saw our first decent bird, a Black-crowned Night Heron.

Black-crowned Night Heron.

Southern Lapwing were also very evident. They were also a little more approachable than they had been in Puerto Madryn.

Southern Lapwing.

Several Magellanic Snipe were also seen, as well as heard. A very strange call these birds have.

Magellanic Snipe.

Crested Duck

I would have loved to have got a better image of the gorgeous Patagonian Sierra Finch, but they were not easy to get near to.

Patagonian Sierra Finch

Another bird that we had seen in number at the start of the trip in Puerto Madryn was the Rufous-collared Sparrow. Once again here, they were more approachable.

Rufous-collared Sparrow.

A pair of Black-faced Ibis did keep their distance, but eventually we got just about near enough to get some shots.

Black-faced Ibis

After seeing so many South Georgia Pintail ducks, we nearly missed photographing the Yellow-billed Pintail. This one has a much larger bill than the South Georgia version!!

Yellow-billed Pintail.

We then headed back to the main streets of the city, where I had one more lifer to look forward to. My first ever visit to a Hard Rock Café!!  It was very welcome too, with a lovely cold beer with a burger and fries.

It was then collecting our luggage and getting a taxi to the local airport to begin the long trip home!!

Looking back, it was amazing to think we had seen so much in those wonderful 20 days on the MV Plancius. A trip I had never thought I would be able to do. So many memories.

Looking back with 20 days ahead!!

I hope you have enjoyed reading my posts of this amazing trip, as much as I have enjoyed writing the posts.