First signs of the changing seasons? Recent Sightings 12 February from volunteer Phil.
Another wet day and another morning dash to Nettley’s Hide to escape the rain. On the way however I stopped briefly to admire bullfinches at the top of the zigzag path – they seem to be quite prominent around the reserve just now.
Bullfinch by Anne
Also on the field to the right of Green Lane a large flock of redwings was to be seen – perhaps 100+ birds. In the Autumn there were some splendid sightings of redwings and fieldfares at The Hanger stripping berries off the hawthorn and blackthorn but since the New Year they I have only seen them in small numbers.
At Nettleys Hide all wigeon, teal, shoveler, shelduck and pintail were present in good numbers along with a few mallard. There were still a few tufted duck and coot illustrating the fact that the water is still deeper than usual despite being well below its peak early in the year.
A week ago some of the lapwing had been doing short display flights but this week they stayed mostly down except when disturbed by the usual peregrine making prominent forays across the North Brooks. This was not the only raptor - a large commotion in the wigeon flock revealed a marsh harrier and then a sparrowhawk.
Some of the moorhens close in to the hide were chasing each other in a rather spring like fashion.
Snipe have been even more difficult than usual to spot in recent weeks – maybe something to do with the high water levels? However today I found one in the rushes about 100 yards out from Nettley’s hide and 3 were reported close in to West Mead hide.
Behind the hide there were plenty of the usual small birds including treecreeper, goldcrest and party of long tailed tits.
Returning round the main trail in the afternoon a party of c20 fieldfares was to be seen on the field behind West Mead. So I agreed with one of my colleagues that these birds in addition to the redwings seen earlier may have been wintering to the South of Pulborough and were now gradually returning North for the spring and summer.
Song thrushes were also perching prominently in various locations throughout the day providing my only not very exciting opportunity for photography on a dull wet day. This one was seen behind West Mead hide.
Song thrush by Phil
So despite the weather there plenty of birds to be seen, however, one thing seemed odd. Apart from a small party of 4 flying south east no black tailed godwits were seen either by myself or my colleagues, in contrast to the 1000+ birds seen in recent weeks on the North Brooks. Had the godwits all started the journey back North for the summer en masse? The only possible clue to their whereabouts was a tentative report from a visitor presumably at Hails View of “large numbers of brown waders on the South Brooks possibly dunlin”. Now dunlin can sometimes be found here in small numbers but large flocks would normally only be seen on the coast.
So was this a case of mistaken identity by an inexperienced birder? I will probably never know and it will be interesting to see what the situation is on my next visit, but by then spring will be a few days closer and there may be other signs of change.