The New Year has got off to a great start for me and my Bird Watching and photography obsession. Today was bright and I knew it was going to be a successful one with the camera. But suddenly birds in the garden were scarce! What was that all about? But never the less I sat in the garden hide and waited for some arrivals ………… but wait, first let me tell you about the bird pictured above.
Having got just a tiny bit bored with endless Goldfinch photos and the usual garden visitors I suggested to my lovely wife that she might like a run out to the little East Devon town of Sidmouth or perhaps even Beer. She knew that there was a motive, there always is and asked what bird we were off to see. At Sidmouth there had been reports of Purple Sandpiper on and off for a while and I thought I might be able to get a nice shot. Then if that failed, we could travel a bit further, 6 miles or so, to Beer. There had been Black Redstart mentioned there and even if there was no sign it is a glorious little place. So Beer was decided on. We parked with no difficulty and strolled down the inclined road which ends on the beach amongst the boat-winches, old crab pots, trailers and fishing paraphernalia. I couldn’t believe my eyes when the “sparrow” flitting around in front of us, flying from winch housing to crab pot was infact a Black Redstart.

It was a smashing little bird, a female, so perhaps not as dapper as the more distinctly marked male but, well what did I expect. It was amazing to me how Joe public took absolutely no notice of the bird, or me for that matter as I snapped away. The bird thankfully was not particularly interested in the public either but I suppose that was due to it’s almost frantic search for food which can’t be easy if you are an insect eater and the insects have long gone! As I watched her with the sun almost gone behind the headland cliff it became apparent that the little bird had a little territory to patrol and was choosing to perch in the same spots as it went back and forth in front of me. Her favourite perch seemed to be the rubber tyre bits stacked with some old pots in a great photogenic spot. I focused the camera on the spot and waited for her to repeatedly pop in to view which she did with regularity. The light was going though so note to myself, try to get there earlier in the day in the future!

From time to time the local Robin took quite an exception to her and proceeded to harass her but she stood her ground! I was distracted by a nice little Wren at one point and then a Rock Pipit tempted me but I resisted.

I notice that there are reports of other Black redstarts in the same location including a male so next week when everyone has gone back to work, and if we have a bright day I will go back to see if I can see and photograph him.
A few little things about Black Redstarts if you haven’t seen one in the flesh so to speak. The ones I have seen have always been very close to human habitation, quite why that should be I am not sure. There are only 50 or so breeding pairs in the UK and 500 are said to spend the winter with us. They are a tiny bit smaller than the Robin but the silhouette to my mind is almost identical. This bird was particularly silent. The redish tail and rump was not really noticeable until you had a look through glasses. Just about everyone that walked past the bird was totally oblivious of it being something special and even the odd few people that took an interest did not, or had not recognised it as anything unusual. This goes to prove how easy this bird would be to overlook.
So back to this morning…….. A nice Long Tail Tit arrived unannounced on to the feeder. Any other day and this would have been the highlight as I have been waiting for at least 2 months to get a good clear shot of this very bird. I can recognise it from the ring.