September is bring a distinct damp chill to the air in the mornings, and despite the warmth of the sun in the middle of the day, it looks like the bird life at Pulborough and elsewhere is noticing the change.
With plenty of work needing to be done across the reserve, our team of wardens spend a lot of time out and about; the perfect opportunity for some lunch-break birding! I had a brief chat with one of the team this morning and he was pleased to say that he had been having regular sightings of at least two hobby most days and several sightings of marsh harrier over the last week, both at Pulborough Brooks, and down the road at Amberley Wild Brooks. Thousands of geese have arrived, and provide quite an impressive visual and audible spectacle when they take off and move around the wetlands. The species are mostly canada and greylag geese with one or two feral/hybrids mixed in. Winter duck numbers are slowly starting to build up, with flocks of teal and wigeon arriving, whilst in the meantime a few passage migrants are still procrastinating the nest leg of their journey. this includes green and common sandpipers.
Other sightings of note from this week include:
9/Sept: male lesser spotted woodpecker (Black Wood), black-tailed godwits (North Brooks), ruff (North Brooks)10/Sept: winchat (West Mead), raven (over the tearoom), sparrowhawk and red kite11/Sept: kestrel, green sandpiper (North Brooks & Hails View), spotted flycatcher, yellow wagtails (up to 10 regularly in fields, including alongside Adder Alley section of path)