A rather depleted group of us met at Pulborough Brooks at 7 am this morning ready to count waterfowl on our monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS). Paul and I headed down to Amberley and were rewarded almost immediately with 24 Bewick's swans (including 4 juveniles) feeding just to the left of the public footpath. By 10.30 am when we'd 'done the rounds' they had disappeared.
Another nice surprise was a pair of goosander on the river. Plenty of lapwing, wigeon, teal and pintail were briefly terrorized by a peregrine. We also heard a couple of water vole munching away on the rushes beside one of the ditches. Meanwhile, Roger and John were treated to views of 4 barn owls out on the North Brooks - all of them appear to be roosting in the owl box out on the river bank - nice and cosy!