The Cuckmere Grey Phalarope.

On Saturday a very smart Grey Phalarope turned up at the Seven Sisters Country Park, strangely in the same pool that I saw my 2nd ever Grey Phalarope several years ago. Of course, on Saturday I was busy hunting Long-tailed Blues and on Sunday I was treated to a day out courtesy of John Stanton in his bird hides at his wood. (More to follow on this one). With confirmation coming through that the bird was still there today I headed down the Cuckmere to find the bird. The only problem was that it was an appalling afternoon with very heavy rain and quite a breeze blowing. Not at all easy keeping the camera gear dry!!

The bird was staying in a main channel of the pool and it was a bit frustrating as it wasn't quite as close as I had hoped. I waited for a while at one end of the channel and the bird came close enough for some better chances, although the weather was getting worse all the time. After a while the bird then took flight and landed in a small pool. It was at this point that it became clear how tame the bird was as it swam towards me and was happily feeding only about 3 feet away and was now too close!! The macro lens would have been more handy, although by now the rain was torrential!! I got back to the car dripping wet and cold but happy at seeing such a great bird.

Grey Phalarope feeding in the pool in the rain.

Grey Phalarope coming a bit too close.