With thanks to volunteer Graham Jacobs for his report.
Could Spring be on the way? A warm dry day, plenty of visitors, and butterflies made a welcome return. Apart from a number of very smart looking Great-spotted Woodpeckers there was nothing much to report from the yurt, but a large Adder was sunning itself in the wildlife area at the top of the ZigZags.
Adder by Anne Harwood
Fattengates Courtyard was also rather quiet, but it was good to see the Coal Tits back after an absence of several weeks. On route to West Mead we were rather baffled by a rather odd song - it was not a Song Thrush and it was not quite right for a Blackbird with a cold - when we eventually located the culprit it was difficult to be sure as it was high up and hidden by branches. Finally it took off and confirmed our guess at a Mistle Thrush.
Mistle Thrush by Phil Thornton
On then to West Mead where thankfully, the water level is beginning to go down and some of the muddy edges are reappearing. The Snipe were still showing well, lots of Lapwing and Redshank were around and several Godwit were visible, as was a distant Great Crested Grebe . All the expected ducks were to be seen including Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Pintail, Shelduck and Gadwall. A Marsh Harrier caused a brief panic, but it stayed quite a long way off.
Several Skylark and a lone Pied Wagtail flitted about but as the hide was very crowded we moved on to Winpenny where we had the hide to ourselves. This gave us time to have a good look around and this enabled us to find the Water Pipit - which had moved from West Mead - a distant Red Kite, a couple of Buzzards gliding over the far trees, a visit from a Little Egret and a gorgeous glossy jet black Raven which circled above us in the sunlight .
We then moved on via a warm and sunny Adder Alley with sightings of Brimstone, Red Admiral and Peacock butterflies. Thence to The Hanger where again the water is beginning to recede revealing bushes and grassy areas that have been submerged for weeks. However there was still a lot of water about so we moved down to Nettleys to have a closer look . There were two Great Crested Grebes on the verge of performing their mating dance, but kept on backing down at the last minute.
Great-crested Grebes by Dan Sayers
There was also a pair of Little Grebes also getting to know each other rather well.
Whilst there I heard that the White-tailed Eagle had flown across the South Brooks and then circled above the car park before heading off east . Although I had missed out on our star turn I was very pleased to see a White Stork fly over but as with the Eagle it didn’t hang around for long and again drifted off towards Knepp from whence I guess it had come.
A special end to a very enjoyable day - but the good old English weather had the final say - producing a heavy shower as I made my way back up to the Visitor Centre and home.