Thanks to volunteer John for his entertaining report
'It’s all white…'
Well nearly. There were some other colours too. My sunny, breezy walk this morning started by the top pond. A Kestrel passed by and a few moments later I saw what I presumed was the same bird hovering over the zigzag. It looked big so I checked with the binoculars and saw that it was a Buzzard. It hovered, wings fluttering, doing a good imitation of a Kestrel before sliding off over the trees.
I could now survey the brooks and before setting up the scope I could see a number of white birds - gulls, swans and egrets. When I got to West Mead a little later I could confirm that I was seeing Black-headed Gulls with grey chicks on the islands, two pairs of Mute Swans also with young, seven Little Egrets and a magnificent Great White Egret posing near the hide. While the Little Egrets seemed to slouch around the Great White Egret stood erect and clearly lord of all he surveyed.
Great White Egret - photo by Graham Osborne
There were six of us in the hide and almost as one we picked up the White-tailed Eagle looming over the trees to the south. He was immediately mobbed by a Sparrowhawk and a brief bout of aerobatics followed. The eagle was not happy and turned on the Sparrowhawk several times showing an amazing ability to twist and turn which brought gasps of appreciation from the human audience. After a few moments the eagle gave up his intended visit to the brooks and turned back towards Amberley.
The walk down the zigzag had been more productive than I had expected. Several Greenfinch wheezed, Common Whitethroats shouted at each other, a Chiffchaff tried to remember it's call and I tried to work out whether I was hearing Blackcap or Garden Warbler. I finally deduced that both were about. At the bottom of the hill an oak tree seemed to be alive with a family of ‘chiffs’ noisily demanding food from their parents.
By now I was noticing the Marbled White butterflies and as the walk progressed you could hardly miss them. In just a few years the numbers have grown incredibly. They are very pretty butterflies and outnumbered the Meadow Brown today. I added Large and Small Skipper and Ringlet as I approached Redstart Corner.
Marbled White butterfly by Frank Prince Iles.
Outside Winpenny a Goldfinch family made their loud presence known while from inside I could hear and then see a Skylark heading upwards in what seemed like utter joy. Redshank were then heard and seen and nearby the scope picked up four Little Ringed Plovers.
Redshank by Graham Osborne
A Red Kite and a Buzzard lazed about the distant sky.
From the Hangar a few Swifts hunted high above the cattle. There were a good number of Lapwing and more Grey heron to add to the six or so seen at Winpenny. As I scanned the east end pool I saw a bird disappear showing a white rump but I had to go on to the Nettley's corner lookout to confirm my suspicion.
Green Sandpiper by Gareth Hughes
At the edge of the water was a Green Sandpiper feeding and bobbing. Some passers-by shared my delight at seeing it and between us we found another with two more Little Ringed Plover.
As I plodded back up the hill I reflected on what had turned out to be a much better morning than I had expected at this time of year. But it wasn't over…. As I passed the crossing at the top of Green Lane what I took to be a small moth landed on an overhanging Blackthorn branch. Fortunately, I checked it and realised that it was a butterfly although I couldn't remember what it was. I have seen so few over the last couple of years that I was very rusty on my id. However I worked out that it was a hairstreak and managed to get a half-decent photo.
And here is John's photo
Back at base, out of the sunshine and after a little enlargement I could check the photo against a convenient butterfly chart and was chuffed to find that I had seen what proved to be only the second sighting this year of a Purple Hairstreak.
A colourful morning indeed - white, black, green. grey, gold, brown, red and purple.