Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos.
Recent Sightings 16th and 20th January – A week of extreme contrasts
On Monday 16th at first light I joined a small team of staff and volunteers for the monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) count for our area of the Arun Valley It was cold and drizzly but fortunately not much wind. I had the pleasure of the company of our Site Manager, Julianne Evans, for the next 3 hours while we surveyed the North Brooks in rather murky conditions. Other teams surveyed the South Brooks and Amberley Wildbrooks
Most of the North Brooks survey is conducted from The Hanger viewpoint and we struggled in the gloom to count large numbers of lapwing (c800) wigeon (c400), teal (c400), Canade geese (c180) and smaller numbers of the usual duck species including pintail, mallard and shoveler. A group of possible greylags disappeared before we could count them leaving me to wonder whether I might have mistaken some Canada geese in the poor light. A group of 35 black tailed godwits was more clearly visible.
The lapwing numbers were particularly difficult to estimate as they were being frequently disturbed by a peregrine but instead of coming up in one big group were fracturing into as many as 4 large group of birds which were constantly changing direction and sometime coalescing or overlapping in our view.
From the Hanger in good conditions there is a lovely walk all around the perimeter of the North Brooks bounded on the west and east sides by public footpaths, however the north side is not accessible to the public. Nevertheless the public footpaths are well worth walking as you have quite a different view of the Brooks from the one you have from the main reserve trail. The one on the east side in particular can give a feel of being down in the action during the winter as some of the pools come quite close to the path.
No unusual birds were seen at Pulborough Brooks but elsewhere in the valley 23 Bewick Swans were counted.
Generally it seemed like a typical drab winters day. However with the count over, and fortified by a late breakfast in the café, I headed out onto the reserve once again to view the South Brooks at West Mead and Winpenny. Initially nothing remarkable appeared but shortly after I left West Mead a report came in on the radio that 5 Bewick swans had just landed on the pool in front of the hide.
After spending 20 minutes at Winpenny with nothing of great note to see I set off back to West Mead with a view to photographing the swans. Happily on the way I noticed that they were quite plainly visible from the gate at Redstart Corner so I stopped to take photos. After barely a minute I was treated to the sight of these magnificent birds taking off in a remarkably synchronised manner and shortly afterwards to a flypast as they headed off towards the North Brooks following the floodplain round by Winpenny.
By contrast the weather on Friday could not have been more different with sparkling sunshine, a clear blue sky and the ground covered in the morning by a heavy frost. I decided to take some photos around the frozen visitor centre pond to capture the beautiful scene.
Going back through the gate onto the trail I noticed that rather curiously the sun appeared to be turning the frost on the gatepost directly into steam.
Most likely it was coming from where frost had already melted in the sun on the far side of the post.
All the old flower heads and other vegetation down the zigzags were covered in a thick frost which was creating the illusion of some new very white “frost flowers”.
At West Mead the effects of the frost were immediately apparent. There was barely a bird in sight as all the water in the pool had completely frozen over. Eventually we found a buzzard and peregrine on fenceposts, and in the distance near the river bank a group of pintails could be seen in my scope apparently standing on ice. Eventually I was to catch up with these birds again at Winpenny discovering some teal mixed in with them on a small patch of open water. A group of some 50 or so wigeon could also be seen in the distance on the grassy riverbank on the far side of the Arun outside the reserve.
However despite the lack of ducks, West Mead hide afforded excellent views of a small group of snipe. The stream coming down from the frozen Pipe Pond from behind the hide was still running clear and where this comes out into the pool there was still some wet ground. The snipe were taking advantage of this, being able to probe softer ground with their long bills.
On a day for smaller species other birds seen here on the grass were mistle thrush, pied wagtail and the ubiquitous robins. It’s easy to dismiss robins as common and uninteresting but many people have remarked recently how many there seem to be around this winter and they do sometime migrate here for the winter from the near continent. This could be a sign of colder weather there driving the birds west to Britain. This robin portrait was taken by the stream behind the hide.
At Redstart Corner a flock of about 30 fieldfare was feeding on one of the fields
and 6 meadow pipits were feeding on the adjacent field.
In Adder Alley a pair of bullfinches looked especially colourful in the sunshine.
On the North Brooks once again nearly all the water was frozen, however, one patch was still clear of ice where a large concentration of ducks could be seen including all our usual winter species - wigeon, teal, shoveler, mallard and pintail. This telephoto shot taken from the Hanger gives the idea with most of the ducks in open water but some standing on the ice.
Most likely the constant movement of the ducks was stopping the water from freezing. As for the lapwings instead of the 800 seen on Monday I could only find 1!
Other sightings reported on the reserve were redwings and redpolls on the heathland and a great white egret seen flying south at Hail’s View.
On the way back to the Visitor Centre I noted that some shady spots had never lost their frost. Despite the frosty conditions driving away many of our wetland birds many people remarked on the lovely gentle landscape we have here which looked resplendent in the winter sunshine. To finish the day a spectacular sunset over the Downs was followed by a beautiful evening sky.