With thanks to volunteer John for his report from November's monthly meander.
We took nine visitors on the Monthly Meander today. It didn't rain, it didn't blow, we weren't dazzled by the sun. The visibility was however, to put it politely, poor. From the terrace we saw nothing. By the time we reached Fattengates we had heard a Robin. It could only get better...
The usual mob of Blue and Great Tits greeted us at Fattengates with several House Sparrows, Robin, Dunnock, a Greenfinch and a Chaffinch. A Jay flew purposefully over with an acorn in its beak then a Great-spotted Woodpecker joined the smaller birds in the courtyard. It stayed close feeding despite the number of people in close attendance and proved to be a big hit with our guests.
Jay with acorn by Chris Moore
On to West Mead where a bigger hit soon arrived. In fact two, as a pair of White-tailed Eagles appeared in the distant gloom. While one disappeared in the mist the other landed on a tree the other side of the river. As a result everyone could be impressed by the bulk of the bird through our telescopes. Meanwhile a little bit nearer we ticked Lapwing, Wigeon, Mallard, Shoveler, Teal, Pintail and Shelduck with the usual Canada and Egyptian Geese. On the pond a Little Grebe popped up and down. It was playing hard to get but failed as we all saw it (eventually). A few Meadow Pipit joined a Goldfinch on the fence and a squadron of Starling arrived. A final scan produced a wader in the murk. A Godwit? Probably, but a closer look revealed a curved bill. It was a Curlew.
We left the hide with our visitors glowing with the delight of seeing the Eagles and they were smiling again when we found a pair of Stonechat posing nicely for telescope views and even a photograph.
Stonechat by Graham Osborne
A raptor was spotted and our first impression was that it was a Red Kite but it didn't seem quite right. I managed to find it in the scope and could see that it was a fine male Marsh Harrier. More satisfied oos and ahs followed.
What would we find on the North Brooks? From the Hanger we found Lapwings and the usual ducks with three white lumps in the distance proving to be Mute Swans. A scan with the scopes was needed and we immediately found three Ruff busily feeding closely followed by about thirty Black-Tailed Godwits. All were well received by our visitors. Finally, in amongst the large flock of Lapwing we found two small waders scurrying about and again our visitors were pleased to add Dunlin to their varied list of grey blobs.
Despite the poor weather conditions it was agreed that the morning had been a successful and pleasant outing for us all.
Find out more about our monthly meander and other events here:
Events at Pulborough Brooks