Thank you to volunteer Phil for his report this week.
Recent sightings 20/10/17
On Friday afternoon I found myself at Winpenny Hide watching two marsh harriers drifting over the brooks near the riverbank. The rushy areas near the riverbank on the South Brooks are a favourite spot for these birds and it’s not often that they come in closer to the hides. Winpenny, being the closest hide to the river is often the best place to see marsh harriers, but even then they are not sufficiently close to obtain really good photos.
I managed to take this shot of one of the harriers drifting slowly over the Brooks with head down looking intently for small mammals.
A little later the same bird wheeled in the air displaying its paler underside with a distinctive pattern and fairly well defined black wing tips. I confess to not being an expert on identifying different sexes and ages of juvenile marsh harriers but think this may be a 2nd year male.
When I started volunteering here 3 years ago marsh harrier sightings were not exactly rare, but neither were they common. I would guess that I might have one sighting in about 4 visits. However, at the moment I almost expect to see one every time, although with birds migrating south it is possible that sightings will cease for a while in the winter months. Nevertheless some marsh harriers do now overwinter in the UK giving more opportunities to see them.
I wouldn’t claim that Pulborough Brooks is a hotspot for these birds, which still generally favour their traditional reedbed habitat, of which we only have small patches, but they have adapted over the years and can now sometimes be found in farmland. I saw one in arable fields at The Burgh on the South Downs just a few miles from Pulborough recently.
In the early 1970s it appears that just one pair of marsh harriers was left in the UK. When I first saw one by the Thames Estuary in the early 1990s this was still a rare sighting and I believe at the time numbers were in the low tens. However now with better management of wetlands the number has risen to around 350 pairs. I believe that birds re-colonised the UK from the continent so were initially concentrated in the South and East, but have now spread northwards and westwards and can even be found in South West Scotland.
On Friday 2 peregrines were seen in the morning at West Mead, with one on the North Brooks in the afternoon where it was reported by a colleague as being seen perched on the usual willow tree on the usual branch. Red Kites were seen at West Mead and the usual kestrels and buzzards completed a good crop of raptors for the day.
Wigeon numbers had increased considerably since my last visit – now well into the hundreds with the males coming out of their eclipse plumage and looking very smart. The characteristic whistling sound they make can now be heard quite frequently. Lapwing and teal numbers are well in the hundreds, shoveler numbers are building, and it was good to see my first pintail of the season, along with perhaps 20 others.
Snipe and black tailed godwit were present on the North Brooks along with several ruff. Many people agree that it has been a particularly good autumn so far for ruff which have been ever present for several weeks.
One my colleagues commented that he had not seen little egrets for a while but later there was an excellent view of one feeding in the pool in front of Little Hanger Hide.
One of our visitors expressed surprise at still seeing dragonflies, but some species such as common darter hang on into November. I spotted one sunbathing on a seat by the path down to Nettley’s Hide along with a seemingly ever present red admiral butterfly.
A few of the larger hawkers were patrolling by some of the paths but as they refused to perch I couldn’t positively identify them. At this time of year both migrant and the larger southern hawkers might be seen, the former being slightly more likely with its flight period peaking during August through to October. The southern hawker peak period runs about one month earlier. I’ve featured the southern hawker in previous articles so here is a photo of a male migrant hawker taken here 2 years ago.
The colouring is generally similar to the male southern hawker but the prominent blue band at the top end of the abdomen is diagnostic and there is a significant size difference, with the abdomen on the southern being about 30% longer.
Finally, returning to my main theme, on Sunday I joined our volunteer outing to RSPB Rainham Marshes where we had splendid views of a full adult male marsh harrier. This excellent reserve, by the Thames close to the Dartford Crossing, has extensive reedbeds and just before leaving I learned from one of the Rainham volunteers that marsh harriers now breed on the site which is very good to hear. I usually visit here once or twice a year, and, just like at Pulborough, I now expect to see a marsh harrier on every visit.