Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos...
There seems to be a debate every year about whether Spring starts on 1st March or the equinox around the 21st. On either measure we have now arrived in Spring. Happily, our wildlife cares nothing about our human debates and just gets on with what it does best at this time of year.
On Friday in warm sunshine I was much cheered by my first sighting of orange tip butterflies in one of the best patches round Winpenny Hide and Adder Alley. This aptly named springtime species is a favourite, bringing a lovely splash of bright colour. This photo shows an adult butterfly on cuckooflower, sometimes called lady’s smock, which grows next to the path behind Winpenny and is a foodplant for the orange tip caterpillar.
Bright yellow brimstone butterflies could be seen all over the reserve enjoying the warm sunshine, as could peacocks, this one seen perched outside Winpenny Hide.
It refused to show the spectacular patterns and colour of its upper side, but you can see that it looks rather ragged. This might suggest an old damaged specimen, but this species naturally has a somewhat ragged wing edge. It is, however, most likely very old in butterfly terms as peacocks hibernate as adults during the winter.
The lapwing breeding season is well under way and visitors to West Mead Hide could easily see a lapwing sitting on a nest straight in front on one of the islands
This was no surprise to me as 4 days earlier on Monday I had observed both parents on the island with one scraping out the depression in the ground which forms this most basic of nests. Several other nest sites have been identified on the reserve in the last 2 weeks. It takes 3-4 weeks of incubation for eggs to hatch so maybe around Easter we will start to see chicks.
On Monday a small group of black tailed godwits was feeding on the islands at West Mead, some in the spectacular red breeding plumage and one still in winter plumage, suggesting a young non-breeding bird. This led to some speculation about which population of godwits they belonged to. Most of our wintering godwits breed in Iceland, but a different population breeds in Northern and Western Europe, including 50-60 pairs in the UK, particularly in the Fens. These birds typically spend the winter in Africa. Our Icelandic birds largely disappeared in early March and so it is possible that the summer plumage birds could have been returning UK breeding birds, but with no rings visible it was impossible to tell. This photo shows a winter plumage godwit, the only one left by Friday, on one of the West Mead islands.
Two ruffs were seen on Friday on the South Brooks with one, clearly a male, starting to develop the dark neck feathers that are puffed up during mating rituals and give the bird its name. It is unlikely these birds will stay any length of time. A very small number of ruff breed in the UK at wetland sites in Eastern England. Many more breed in Northern Europe and Asia, but there was no way of telling their ultimate destination.
Most of our wintering ducks have gone, but it was still quite easy to find examples of our usual winter species. More exciting however was a male garganey spotted on the South Brooks by a couple of colleagues and some of our visitors. This scarce summer visitor from Africa usually turns up on the reserve every year, but, with very secretive breeding habits it can be hard to spot and it has never been possible to establish with certainty whether it breeds here.
My attempts to find the garganey and ruff failed but I did see a most unusual duck from Winpenny Hide.
My colleague John, with the help of his phone, suggested that this could be a red billed teal (a Southern African Species). However my photo shows red only on the base of the bill and my theory, with the help of some Internet research, is that this is more likely to be a white cheeked pintail from South America and The Caribbean. Either way all who saw it agreed that this was most likely to have escaped from a collection, with the finger of suspicion pointing to Arundel Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, just a few miles away. It certainly provided some unusual interest.
All over the reserve the sound of chiffchaffs could be heard, and at one point I thought I might have heard the distant song of its close relative the willow warbler. This rather confiding chiffchaff perched obligingly on one of the bushes in Adder Alley, on one occasion descending rather unusually to the path, behaviour more reminiscent of a robin.
Several bursts of woodpecker drumming could be heard but I failed to find the elusive lesser spotted variety seen by a colleague on Monday near the path to Nettley’s Hide.
Everywhere around the reserve blossom could be seen. This small tree near Winpenny Hide was particularly colourful, the white blossom contrasting well with the yellow lichen.
Finally, while taking tea outside the café, I couldn’t help noticing that the pheasants frequently seen in Upperton’s Field, seemed to be pairing up, with one male having very puffed up feathers, a sure sign of his amorous intentions.