Recent Sightings Friday 12th January - thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos
The most remarkable sight of a cold grey and sometimes rather misty day was the drop in water level on the Brooks over the course of a week. Readers may recall my photo of the depth gauge outside Nettley’s Hide from last Friday (5th) which was not far from being completely submerged. This photo shows the gauge on Friday some 2 ½ ft lower.
As a result much more grass was visible and the pool in front of the hide which had become completely subsumed into the flood last week had reappeared. At least one snipe was enjoying the ability to return to a favourite spot.
I had no opportunity to quiz any of our wardens about the drop in water levels but my suspicion is that, as the last week has been relatively dry, the water level in the Arun has returned to something more normal. This would make it easier for water on the reserve to be drained into the river through the sluices.
The drop in the water level makes it much easier to find muddy margins for short legged waders such as the Temminck’s stint and a few dunlin all seen on the North Brooks. The number of long legged black tailed godwits was actually up to somewhere in the region of 100, and my pre-Christmas speculation about their preferring higher water levels is looking increasingly dubious.
Apart from this the wildlife was much as described last week with very large numbers of lapwing, wigeon and teal and good numbers of pintail, shelduck and shoveler, and general mayhem being caused by peregrine and marsh harrier. My impression is that this winter the peregrines are favouring the South Brooks, and I have yet to see one perched in the large willow tree on the North Brooks.
There were distant hawfinch sightings to be had from Green Lane through a scope trained on the tall trees near Wiggonholt Church, but one came much closer perching on the trees by the Zigzag path in the early afternoon.
Finally, it is worth noting a sighting from earlier in the week of Bewick's swans near Winpenny. A number of these migrants from Siberia spend the winter in the Arun Valley between Arundel and Pulborough and we sometimes see them on the reserve. There was no sign of them on Friday, but here is a photo I took in January last year of a group flying towards Winpenny.
Bewick's swans often return to the same winter quarters each year, so it is entirely possible that the birds seen earlier in the week include the very same 5 swans from last year’s photo.
A note from Anna - we were lucky enough to see 12 Bewick's swans on our 'Dawn of the Ducks' event on Saturday morning - a fantastic reward for our guests who braved the early start!