Thanks to volunteer Graham for his sightings report and photos from Sunday 17 September
With thundery showers forecast for later I made the most of the dry start with a brief stop at Upperton’s Pond. I barely had time to spot several Swallows feeding low over the field before a Merlin came swooping in and flew down the slope, dispersing the Swallows before disappearing from view. It took several minutes before the Swallows returned to resume their feeding flights, enabling me to get some distant shots.
Nearer the pond a Peacock butterfly was warming up on one of the benches,
and a Southern Hawker was patrolling over the water.
Alongside the zigzag path I came across an interesting looking fly resting on a web-covered Fleabane head.
As there was no standing water in the scrape at West Mead I bypassed the hide and headed towards Redstart Corner. By the side of the path in the flower meadow Rose hips provided a colourful display.
At Winpenny Hide three White Storks were sharing a ditch at close range with a Grey Heron and a Little Egret, and one of the storks was holding a recently caught fish in its bill.
After several minutes and repeated dunkings the stork eventually swallowed its meal.
A female Kestrel put in an appearance and successfully caught a dragonfly, settling on a muddy mound to eat its catch.
A Great White Egret flew in close enough for a photo for a few moments before flying off to a more distant ditch.
After a while two more Great White Egrets appeared, all three staying out in the open for a while, although at long range. One of the egrets still retained breeding characteristics (dark bill and back plumes). Fortunately, a number of visitors were in the hide sharing all of this excellent action.
While I was in Winpenny Hide the thundery weather and heavy rain arrived as forecast, but this eased after a while and I moved on, planning a quick visit to the Ditch Dipping Ponds. However, the rain started again almost immediately, so I hurried on to Little Hanger Hide until it eased. When it had stopped I moved on to Hanger View with a visitor, and shared brief scoped views of some feeding Snipe and a Black-tailed Godwit, before continuing to Nettley’s Hide. Just after we arrived there another visitor pointed out a Marsh Harrier just as it landed at the edge of a clump of rushes, and then spent a considerable time consuming what must have been a sizeable prey item.
As well as the Snipe and the godwit that I had seen earlier there were at least three Ruff showing well. Some more visitors arrived and one of them spotted a raptor flying in low to land on a post - a smart looking Hobby, which perched nicely for a satisfying scoped view.
It was soon time for me to head back to the visitor centre. On the way I stopped by the picnic area where I found a male Dark Bush Cricket.
Further on I spotted a particularly pale Green-veined White butterfly perching by the path.
The sun came out as I reached the welcome hut after another satisfying day at Pulborough Brooks.