Thanks to volunteer Phil firstly for getting up early to help with our Wetland Bird Survey, and secondly for sending us this report and photos!
I arrived for the monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) at 8am with the car thermometer reading a chilly -5 degrees. Having been allocated to the South Brooks team it was no surprise to reach Hail’s View and find the floodwater pools completely frozen,and a distinct lack of wetland birds apart from a group of about 100 lapwings on the ice of the main pool near the river bank. One of our group asked the question “where do all the birds go in conditions like this”?
I have always assumed that most wading birds, eg black tailed godwits, which like to feed around water margins will fly South to the coast. Places such as Pagham Harbour and Chichester Harbour are constantly subject to tidal flows which stop the water freezing even when the temperature dips several degrees below zero. Lapwings, although wading birds, are much more at home on fields and tend to stay with us, and indeed throughout the next 3 hours we witnessed several large clouds of flying lapwing and estimated there to be around 400 birds just on our patch.
Freshwater ducks however have a different problem. They use water on which to roost overnight to provide safety from land predators such as foxes. So they also need to find open water, however at Pulborough Brooks they have a much easier solution available. While the banks of the River Arun are too steep and vegetated for waders to use, the open water of the flowing river is a perfect refuge for ducks. Sure enough when we reached the riverbank we disturbed large numbers of wigeon with some teal and mallard mixed in. On the river these would be completely hidden from any watchers in the hides, so we had a privileged view.
Our final stop on the count was at West Mead, where about 90% of the pool was still frozen at around 10.30 am we discovered that some 200 ducks (mainly wigeon with some teal, shoveler, mallard and pintail) had managed to keep a small patch of water open around the islands, their constant small movements in a confined area having stopped the water from freezing. .
Here, a solitary snipe was seen on the edge of the pool near the ducks and I was surprised not to have seen more as the wet area in front of the hide has proved very good for viewing snipe in recent weeks. These birds are happy enough probing in wet grass and can often be seen in these conditions out in the open when the edges of the water become frozen. It seems that their long bills are strong enough to probe for food through the frosted grass, which may stop the ground underneath from freezing too hard.
While this proved to be an unusual and interesting WeBS count, the combination of the low winter sun and a heavy hoar frost provided the most beautiful conditions for a walk, and the relative lack of bird activity allowed me a little time to take a few photos.