Bob's Butterfly and Bird Blog: Pied Wheatear.

Having just returned from the longest trip I've ever had, I was busy this week recovering and sorting far too many photos. I hadn't been home long when Matt called to say he would be popping round to say hello, as he was currently up Seaford Head watching a female Pied Wheatear!!

This was a bird I had never expected to ever see, but as the light was now failing, and I was too tired to head straight out again, I waited for him at home. In fact I had virtually forgotten about the bird over the next few days, and I assumed it had moved on.

This was not the case, and after going for a few walks locally, which included a surprise sighting of a ringtail Hen Harrier hunting on top of the downland, I had a text on Thursday from Matt asking if I had seen the Wheatear yet. For such a rare bird to be so local, at that point I decided I really should at least go and see it, after all, it was only the 2nd ever record of a Pied Wheatear in Sussex.

I arrived at the site in poor light, but did see the bird reasonably quickly, so at least I could now tell Matt I had seen the bird. After getting home, the light improved enormously, so after lunch I decided to go back to the bird. This time I included a long walk from home to get there, after all, I had put on a bit of excess weight following the trip!!

The problem now was, the sun was in front of where I was watching the bird, which wasn't exactly ideal. It was great though, seeing Paul and Malcolm there, so the time passed by as we waited for the sun to move round a bit. We were also entertained by some Black Redstarts, including one very tame female. A couple of poor shots were taken of the Wheatear, but not quite what I was hoping for.

Female Pied Wheatear.

Female Black Redstart

Black Redstart watching a fly.

The following day, I was meeting up with David, and as he hadn't yet seen the bird, he was keen to go and see it, so yet again, I was back in position hoping to improve on my photos of it. The forecast was for sunshine, but that didn't materialise. Probably though, that helped as it wasn't really bright in front of us. The bird once again showed several times, along with a couple of the Black Redstarts. A few shots were once again taken of both species, but I was still hoping for the Wheatear to show in a better position. Eventually it did, but by then the sun had gone behind thicker clouds and had got very low in the sky. However, there was a marked improvement in the images from the previous day, and I was reasonably happy with the day, spent again in good company, with both David and Gary.