Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report
Many casual visitors to Pulborough Brooks are entirely unaware of the heathland and its surrounding woodland on the South side of the reserve. It is more natural to report to the Visitor Centre and then take the Wetland Trail. When the reserve was acquired by the RSPB most of this area had been planted with conifers but since then much of it has been gradually restored to its original sandy heathland state so now appears as a large clearing in a mixed wooded area.
There is much of interest to be found on the heathland and its surrounding woods so, although the central area is fenced off and inaccessible to visitors to avoid disturbance to the wildlife, it is a place where in normal times we undertake guided evening walks for visitors in the summer. It is possible to observe the heathland from The Clump – a high point in the woodland south of the car park, and the public footpath running down the hill to Black Pond so there is still the opportunity of experiencing some of our night-time wildlife for any casual evening visitors.
There are daytime treats too. The heathland has a series of ponds coming down the hill which are excellent places to find dragonflies and damselflies in the summer. One of the best until it dries out later in the summer is Black Pond so with the public footpath running right beside it can be viewed easily during the day.
In addition to the dragonflies this year it seems there may have been breeding grey wagtails at the pond. Following up a tip from a volunteer colleague I checked it out on Friday 26th June and found no less than 3 grey wagtails, and the bird in this photo does appear to have juvenile plumage with no dark bib that would be visible in the adults.
This is not the first time I have seen grey wagtails here in the breeding season but is the first time I’ve seen evidence that they may have nested successfully. This is quite surprising as these birds are more associated with fast flowing rivers and lakes.
Further up the hill is the area where in recent years endangered field crickets have been translocated from RSPB Farnham Heath as one of the Back from the Brink projects. This new colony seems to be doing well so if you stand near The Clump during warm summer days or evenings you might be able to hear their chirping calls.
It is only natural that there is more of an air of mystery about night-time wildlife because we can’t really see it other than as silhouetted shapes. On the other hand we can hear the sound it makes which leaves us guessing what sort of creature we might be listening to. The nightjar is a wonderful example of this.
After the annual Summer Volunteer BBQ (sadly cancelled this year) it is traditional to walk out onto the heathland at about 9pm and last year I joined this walk. There we could pick up the distinctive almost mechanical churring sound of the nightjars that breed here every summer. We took the path across the centre of the heathland and at one point seemed to be surrounded by churring. There were at least 3 nightjars making this sound from different directions. Eventually we caught sight of one of these birds silhouetted against the rapidly fading sky at the end of a branch.
As well as the churring call nightjars have a curious display flight where they clap their wings together, something we didn’t hear on this occasion.
The habitat – a heathland clearing in woods is perfect for nightjars. They feed mainly on flying insects such as moths in a similar way to swallows and martins, flying around with gape wide open. The mixture of woodland and heathland means there is a good range of different species of moth available to eat.
Nightjars do not create a nest but just lay their eggs (usually 2) directly on the ground. This means that birds need to be perfectly camouflaged during incubation and so they have a cryptic brown and grey plumage.
During the daytime they rest either on the ground or on a tree branch.
Nightjars are a migratory species, found in the UK from April through to August and spending the winter in sub-Saharan Africa. Counting breeding pairs is difficult as nests are so hard to find, so the population is estimated by counting churring males thought to be around 4600 in the UK.
Finally, I should mention another rather mysterious bird that inhabits the woods next to the heathland. This is the woodcock, a bird I have only ever encountered once exploding from vegetation deep in a Scottish wood. It is sometimes called “snipe of the woods” on account of its plumage and long bill being very similar to the common snipe, as can be seen in this illustration. My volunteer colleague Rob will write about the woodcocks on the reserve in our next blog post.
In summary visitors are well advised to consider investigating the heathland and the surrounding woods as there is much of interest to see and hear, especially in summer, and in the autumn when many different types of fungus can be found in the woods.