Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos
Recent Sightings Friday 6th January
On my first visit of 2017 there was no sign of the fog promised by the BBC forecast. Instead emerging from the Visitor Centre a frosty prospect presented itself over a frozen pond, the Brooks and River Arun.
The Brooks looked just as frozen as the pond and I reflected on the possibility of some unusual sightings because birds sometimes have to alter their behaviour when the water is frozen. In particular I agreed with my colleague John that it might be a good day for snipe to come out from the frozen rushy water margins onto the open grass..
A flock of linnets was seen down the zigzag path followed by a pair of bullfinches. Looking from the gate at the bottom of the path a sparrowhawk and a kestrel could be seen in the trees along the bottom of Upperton’s Field. A song thrush was seen on the edge of the undergrowth near the Fattengate path. All the way round to Jupps View there were many robins and blackbirds along with a few goldcrests, goldfinches and greenfinches.
At Jupps a peregrine could be seen on a bar across the back of the first main pool eating elevenses, most likely a duck as seen earlier by one of our off duty volunteers. However with all the frozen water there was a remarkable lack of ducks and lapwings in view when considering the huge numbers counted at the December Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS). One of the highlights then was approximately 4400 lapwings on the reserve but today there were none to be seen. Eventually I discovered a small patch of open water holding a fair number of ducks, including wigeon, teal, mallard, shoveler and pintail. It seemed most likely that the birds had been concentrated into an ever decreasing amount of open water which their movement had stopped from freezing over. A pair of stonechats could be seen in front of Nettley’s Hide and several others were reported throughout the day.
At the Hanger John spotted a pair of black tailed godwits mixed in with the ducks in the open water. The numbers are still remarkably low compared with the same time last year and it is thought this may be something to do with the unusually dry ground, there having been not much rain since June. Black tailed godwits can be often be seen probing with their long bills into the wet grassland as well as the shallow water margins. It is interesting to compare the scene with January last year when most of the Brooks looked like a big lake after a wet autumn and Christmas period. Subsequently we estimated counted some 1200 godwits in late January – a record number by some way. There is still time, however, for numbers to build this year and wetland species do tend to reach peak numbers in January.
Dropping by at the dipping pond to look for a lost item I was distracted by a white heron flying purposefully towards the North Brooks. I had a good look at this bird flying and it seemed to show more yellow than black on the bill. Fortunately John, still at the Hanger, also picked up this bird along with a nearby similar sized grey heron and was able to confirm my suspicion that this was indeed a great white egret. The great white spotted in December had not been reported for a few weeks and it is impossible to say whether or not this was the same bird, but it’s good to know that there is still at least one in the Arun valley.
At Winpenny despite John’s report of none to be seen there in the morning, it was good to confirm my suspicion that it would be a good snipe day as 2 birds were feeding quite openly on the grass near the hide giving good views from all angles. This unusual shot shows the plumage on the back and neck
By 2pm John had joined me in the hide and picked up a beautiful male marsh harrier on the South Brooks. However while he was trying to admire this bird in his scope something much more exciting was happening. A smallish brown bird appeared from the left of the hide, flew over the pool and between the strands of barbed wire on the fence on the far side where it caused a little commotion with a pair of birds I hadn’t even noticed there, From here it then flew right and eventually dipped down behind flood bank by the river. There was no mistaking the shape of this as a bird of prey and the size and colour confirmed it as a merlin. This bird has been seen occasionally throughout the autumn, but I’d never been in the right place before. This was only my second ever merlin sighting and my first at Pulborough Brooks. Happily I managed to distract John from the marsh harrier in time to see it. Merlin is the name of the wizard in the King Arthur legends so I think I can reasonably call this a magical moment.
The merlin is the UK’s smallest bird of prey, being only a little larger than a blackbird. It typically feeds on small birds and breeds in moorland further north but will come south to winter on coasts and other open country with low trees and bushes and it is by no means unusual to have one wintering here. Birds may migrate to the UK in winter from Iceland or Northern Europe. Given its size and the solitary nature the merlin is difficult to locate in a large area, unlike our large birds of prey, so is not easy to pick out.
Shortly after the merlin sighting large numbers of ducks, mostly wigeon and teal, erupted from close to the river.
And not long afterwards a group of lapwing flew across. We speculated that all these birds might have been disturbed by the merlin or possibly a peregrine which appeared shortly afterwards on a fence post. What was more curious about this is how come we’d overlooked such a large group of birds before during the day, the only other ducks having been the ones on the small patch of open water on the North Brooks. They may have been out of sight near the river but behind the flood bank, especially as the flowing river will have been a good open water resource, unlike the frozen pools on the main part of the reserve.
Shortly after 3pm from near Redstart Corner I spotted 2 large white birds flying South near the river. With long outstretched necks, unlike the hunched neck of the great white egret, these were clearly swans but were just too far away to make out the all important shape and colour of the bill. After wheeling a couple of times over the South Brooks they then headed back North and this time on a path much closer to where I was standing. This time the bills could not be mistaken for a mute swan and it was clear that these were indeed Bewicks as I’d suspected, maybe on their way to roost on the North Brooks.
It is not unusual to have Bewick swans roosting on the reserve during the winter before dispersing to other parts of the Arun Valley, usually early in the morning. I have seen them before during the day at Amberley Wildbrooks and they are also known to frequent the meadows near Burpham down the valley towards Arundel. A sighting on Saturday confirmed that 9 of these birds had indeed been roosting on the North Brooks. It is good to see that we still have some Bewick swans in the area. Sadly this species has been in serious decline in recent years and currently is the subject of a major conservation effort led by Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust focusing on the perils they face on their migration route from Siberia.
Finally arriving at West Mead at about 3.30 another snipe was to be seen very prominently probing around on the grass at the edge of the ice giving a more traditional view.
So, despite John’s disappointing morning reports, in fact our prediction of a good snipe day proved entirely accurate.