Thanks to volunteer Gary for his report and photos from Tuesday 11 October
What a beautiful sparkling autumn day at Pulborough Brooks. As usual I kept my mobile to hand to try to keep a visual record of my sightings (of the things that keep still long enough!) I decided to try Hale’s View first, but apart from the grunting male fallow deer and several stonechat there was little to see apart from the magnificent fungi trail. Several visitors were avidly ticking off their fungi sightings and using the crib sheets to find others.
On the way to Hanger View the zigzag was fruitful with my first redwing of the autumn and two reed buntings; later in the day the yellow-browed warbler was showing and calling intermittently to an appreciative crowd. The Hanger had plenty of geese and ducks, including ever growing numbers of wigeon, and the resident kestrels were still at war with the crows and jackdaws. I missed the peregrine, but it was seen later in the day.
It was like a summer’s day on adder alley and a chiffchaff was obviously confused by the good weather as it was singing away as they sometimes do at this time of year. Winpenny turned up trumps with a green sandpiper and three snipe quite close to the hide.
Slightly further out, stonechats seemed to be all over the place with at least ten flitting from fence post to reed top. A nice surprise was a single whinchat that was accompanying them.
A distant red kite, buzzard, a few swallows and numerous meadow pipits could also be seen.
A tip off that a little owl was on view at West Mead had me rushing (well, walking briskly) to see if it was still there, and sure enough, although tricky to spot, there it was. It wasn’t far from where I saw one a couple of months ago, so let’s hope it becomes a regular sighting.
I couldn’t resist another look at Hales View, so I walked back. And just as well, because at last I found the family party of four white-fronted geese which conveniently kept their heads up as a marsh harrier quartered the South Brooks. The bean geese seem to have deserted the reserve, but at least I had a quick view last Sunday.