Thank you to volunteer Graham for his wildlife report and photos:
After missing the two previous Sundays at Pulborough Brooks it was good to get back to a day of Hides and Trails on 9 June. The weather was fine and dry, although it was quite breezy for much of the time. A brief visit to Upperton’s Pond revealed three Four-spotted Chasers.
As I approached West Mead Hide I saw my first Hobby of the day. After circling higher in the direction of the Visitor Centre it was joined by a second Hobby. On entering the hide a visitor pointed out a White-tailed Eagle perched on a distant gatepost. It stayed put for a good time, allowing me to provide scoped views to a number of visitors. After a while it took off and was immediately harassed by a number of birds, including a Common Buzzard.
When it was pursued by two or three Black-headed Gulls it flew off in the direction of the North Brooks.
Scanning the sky revealed a good number of Swifts on the wing, as well as at least five Hobbies, and these provided the occupants of the hide with some impressive aerial action, particularly when they occasionally swooped across at close range in their pursuit of dragonflies.
The eagle did not stay on the North Brooks for long, and shortly after returning to the South Brooks (in the vicinity of its gatepost perch) it appeared to catch a Canada gosling.
After using the hide’s glazed window and the step-stool to provide scoped views of nearby birds to a number of younger visitors I left West Mead to continue along the trail, taking the left-hand path to Redstart Corner. I had not walked far before coming across an Ichneumon on a grass stem.
Other invertebrates by the path included a Sepsis fly,
a Xanthogramma pedissequum hover fly
and a Dolichopus fly,
while some striking patches of colour were provided by Germander Speedwell .
Shortly after reaching Redstart Corner I had to curtail my circuit of the trail to meet a cousin who had arrived unexpectedly, and I was unable to add further to my photo album for the day.