Recent Sightings Friday 27th May - thanks to volunteer Phil for his update and photos
With warm sunshine and only a light breeze all day everything seemed set fair for one of those wonderfully varied and days that we sometimes have at this time of year. This is one of my favourite times on the reserve as various colourful insects and flowers start to become prominent alongside the birdsong and young birds
An early walk through Black Wood was accompanied by a cuckoo calling. On arrival at Hail’s I was lucky enough to see the bird emerge from the wood and land on the ash tree in front of the viewpoint. It didn’t stay very long but was quickly replaced by a pair of mistle thrushes – another species not commonly seen.
I then scanned the South Brooks to and was delighted to pick up a mandarin and no less than 17 ducklings. These had been reported on the Sussex Ornithological Society website the previous day and the report there suggests that this is over the normal maximum size of a mandarin brood. Someone asked me later in the day whether it could have been a sort of duckling crèche and I had to confess that I just don’t know. On reflection I can’t see why an adult mandarin would be leaving her chicks in the care of another bird unless she’d been predated and I’ve not heard of orphaned birds being taken care of like this. It was certainly a remarkable number of ducklings and it was good that there had not been any overnight predation.
Setting out on the main trail down the zigzags I quickly picked up the green woodpecker yaffle I’d heard a lot last week. However there was something slightly different form normal about this and I surmised I might be listening to a blackbird that seems to have developed a line in green woodpecker imitation. I’d never suspected this until a conversation with a visitor the previous week who had actually seen the blackbird singing!
A little further on down the path a brilliant flash of gold caught my eye and proved to my first identifiable dragonfly of the year – a female broad bodied chaser.
A little further down the path I discovered a pair of wonderfully named damselflies – the beautiful demoiselle – a male with the dark blue wings and a female with brown wings.
At West Mead my colleague Tom who’d been there for some time drew my attention to a pied wagtail feeding some fledged youngsters by the edge of the pool which allowed for a comparison of the adult pied plumage with the juvenile light grey.
The fledglings then moved into cover and one of the adults perched on a fencepost near the hide and commenced a repeated call to the youngsters which continued for several minutes.
One of my favourite orange tip butterflies fluttered in front of the hide with sun picking out the bright orange wingtips beautifully.
Photo by Pete Hughes
Over lunch in Winpenny hide I was able to admire large red and azure damselflies right outside the window. This photo of an azure was taken last year.
Also a green veined white butterfly was prominent – this one photographed last week outside Little Hanger.
The snakes in Adder Alley decided to remain hidden, but one of the nightingales tuned up out of sight behind the now copious foliage, but then gave some glimpses at the bottom of the bushes.
Nightingale photo by Chris & Juliet Moore
At the Hanger the pergerine was on its usual perch
There are rather more leaves on the tree now...
It’s easy to feel rather blasé about this bird now but it still delights most visitors who don’t commonly see these birds. I speculated that it might stay resident for several more months until next spring when being more mature it will presumably need to move away to find a mate and nest. There is plenty food for peregrines on the reserve but no suitable nest sites.
Going down the path to Nettley’s Hide a glimpse of a jay reminded me of last week’s encounter with a bird that was uncharacteristically unfazed by my presence. Jays are usually very wary of people and I assumed it must have been a youngster. I was able to photograph it perching prominently only a few yards away.
And finally out on the North Brooks a drake mandarin was to be found thereby in a sense completing my family from the morning. There was of course no way of telling whether this was the father of the 17 ducklings, but they are such colourful birds and it’s always good to see one.