Thanks to volunteer Phil for this great account of his visit on Friday
At the end of the day a visitor asked me if I’d seen any rarities to which my reply was that it depends what you mean by a rarity. What we tend to have at Pulborough Brooks are uncommon birds occasionally turning up, but very few that would attract an army of twitchers with long lenses. But sometimes we have otherwise common birds turn up which one wouldn’t necessarily expect to see here.
Take the coot for example. This is a common bird of UK inland waters and rarely attracts much interest, but I have always assumed that it is not often seen here because the shallow floodwater pools don’t suit its diving habits. Nevertheless several coots have been seen on the reserve in recent weeks and so far I can offer no explanation as to why. A pair of black-tailed godwits were showing well from Hanger View in lovely summer plumage but clearly not part of the very large winter flock we have which long since few North to breed, probably in Iceland. Some godwits do breed in the UK but not usually this far South so why had these birds not travelled further North? More research is needed – at least by me.
Now consider the nightingales which have been delighting us since mid-April. All the books say that they usually sing from deep inside bushes but have our ones simply not read the script? Just when I thought perhaps the best of singing period was over and the birds were getting down to the serious business of raising young, a nightingale was to be seen perching prominently and singing from one of the dead conifers near Fattengates courtyard. This bird was observed by several people in the same place all through the day.
Recent visitors have been delighted to see and hear one or more cuckoos from various parts of the reserve. However this leads to the question of whether this could spell disaster for the reed warblers which have been seen and heard on the edge of the North Brooks? Reed warblers are one of the species targeted by the cuckoo to lay its eggs in their nests. This is a reminder that, apart from human activitiy, one of the biggest threats to wildlife is actually other wildlife, and yet summer reed warbler populations in the UK are generally holding up well, whereas the cuckoo has seriously declined.
An easy question to answer was whether there is a sedge warbler nest in the dense vegtation in front of Nettley’s Hide, with birds having been seen there several times in recent weeks. Things have clearly moved on here as 2 parents were to be seen frequently flying out to collect insects to feed chicks. One of them was often to be seen perched on a particular stem prior to its next foraging mission but never quite long enough for a handheld photo. However I did eventually manage to snatch a different shot just before leaving the hide.
Finally I must mention lapwings as I’ve been assisting our wardens in the monitoring of the breeding process. The previous Friday there were 6 chicks in plain view from West Mead hide but this time only 2 could be seen. What had happened to the others? Had they been predated? Were they hidden out of sight in the rushes? Had they moved to a different feeding area? The visible chicks were close together and could have been part of the same family group but if so why was one more noticeably grown than the other?
To conclude, my considered answer to the visitor’s question is that there were no rarities, but as long as there are questions to be answered about what we can observe here there will always be plenty of interest at Pulborough Brooks.