Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos.
The downpours of last Friday had now given way to very warm sunshine and a complete contrast in the wildlife sightings in the course of a week. Last week I found myself mostly looking at birds. This week it was mostly insects and the whole reserve seemed to be particularly full of very active dragonflies and damselflies most of which were too busy to photograph.
At the top heathland pond I discovered several broad bodied chaser dragonflies whizzing over the surface. These are easy to identify simply because the shape of their abdomen is noticeably broader than other dragoflies. They all seemed to be the gold coloured females - males have a powder blue abdomen - and were living up to their name by chasing each other. There were also some much slower blue damselflies which were still too active to identify.
Very often the only way to identify dragonfly and damselfly species is from a photograph because the fine detail can be all important. The most likely blue species here would be common blue or azure, both of which can be seen at this time of year.
Female broad bodied chasers were present on all the heathland ponds except Black Pond where four spotted chasers had a monopoly. The four spots are in the middle of the front edge of each of the wings. Happily these dragonflies were more obliging and perched up occasionally to allow a photo.
Eventually I found a perched broad bodied chaser by the path down to Nettley’s Hide. For an insect who’s lifecycle is intimately bound up with water this species does seem to stray away from it quite frequently
I checked out the Visitor Centre pond but only the active blue damselflies could be seen there. However while talking to a visitor here a very pale damselfly fluttered up and carried on upwards until it disappeared into the blue of the sky. We theorised that this may have just emerged from its old larval outer case and had yet to develop its full colour.
At Nettleys Hide and Jupps View I again found some very active blue damselflies all around the hide. However some now perched to allow photographs and I could identify both common blues and azures.
The raised pond built last year in Fattengates doesn’t seem to have any emergent vegetation and no dragonflies, but as these insects can take up to 2 years in their underwater larval stage to emerge as adults it’s too early for this pond to produce any. It did however have several water boatmen as seen here.
This is the first time I have noticed that they swim on their backs and I’ve now discovered that another name for them is a “common backswimmer”.
Also in this pond was a small red and black beetle looking very out of place. One of our visitors coaxed it out onto the side of the pond and I was able to take this photo.
Then to our surprise it suddenly leapt back into the pond. I’ve since discovered that it is called appropriately a red and black froghopper.
A visitor remarked to me that there seemed to be not many butterflies about but overall a fair number of species were reported including large white, green veined white, red admiral, peacock, painted lady, small tortoiseshell and speckled wood as in this photo.
There was also a glimpse of a blue butterfly in the bushes near Jupps View. This would most likely have been a holly blue as in this photo from a few weeks ago.
Holly blues tend to frequent bushes and low trees whereas the other blue butterfly to be found here, the common blue, tends to be found more in the grassy areas.
While being relatively quiet from a birding point of view there were nevertheless a few interesting sightings. On one of the heathland ponds I noticed some swallows apparently swooping over the surface. It then became clear that some were dipping themselves into the pond leaving me to ponder what was going on. Were they actually taking insects from the surface of the water or just having a high-speed drink or bath?
From Hail’s View 20 black tailed godwits some in summer plumage could be seen on the South Brooks pool, too far away and slightly obscured by the long rushes for an effective photo. Our wintering black tailed godwits usually come from Iceland but there are small numbers of this species that breed in the UK – mostly in East Anglia. I wondered if this was a late running party of migrating birds on their way there.
Earlier in the week I’d had a much more remarkable sighting on the South Brooks pool in the shape of a male ruff in breeding plumage. Again I wasn’t in a position to photograph this bird but it was seen and confirmed by several colleagues during the course of the day. No-one I’ve spoken to since can recall ever seeing one before here. Ruffs breed in very small numbers in the UK mostly in East Anglia but also in large numbers in Scandinavia and the Arctic. We do see migratory ruffs at Pulborough sometimes in the autumn and winter when the birds look like typical waders in winter plumage.
The male ruff in breeding plumage, which can vary quite considerably, is a very colourful sight. This one had a bright orange neck and head but the extensive ruff around the base of the neck was black or very dark brown. It did ruffle its ruff feathers a little while preening.
Apparently courtship is more like that of black grouse or capercaillie when they form a lek with other males to compete for the females’ favours in a display and that is when the ruff feathers are puffed out to their full extent.
At Winpenny Hide a juvenile starling caused some confusion amongst some of our visitors. Its pale brown and streaked plumage bears little resemblance to the adult birds but the shape and sharp beak gives it away.
Also at Winpenny a lapwing was sitting on a nest just beyond the pool while her mate was busy chasing away crows. She might have been even more concerned about a rather splendid looking fox which approached quite close to the hide, but happily for her it was on the other side of the pool and ditch.
There have been a number of Egyptian geese on the reserve in recent weeks and some goslings have also been reported. Mostly they’ve been seen in the distance but on this occasion one of the adults came close in to West Mead Hide
It was interesting to reflect at the end of the day how a change in the weather seemed to have been the catalyst for a whole different set of wildlife sightings.