A lovely range of wintery wildlife can be found around the nature trails at the moment - although I suspect all the little birds are in hiding today with all the wind! Out on the brooks themselves look for lapwing, snipe, black-tailed godwit and dunlin amongst the plentiful wigeon and teal and the handsome shoveler and pintail. Sightings of the peregrine and marsh harrier occur most days. We’re getting great views of redwing and fieldfare around the trail – there are certainly plenty of berries for them to enjoy – my favourite place to look is Hanger View.
A brief lunchtime walk on the heathland and up to the tumuli was rewarded with lots of small woodland birds – the usual tits and chaffinches but also goldcrest and brambling (my first of the winter). But it’s not just birds ... visitors were lucky enough to see a stoat earlier this week. These beautiful but fierce mammals can be distinguished from their smaller relatives, weasels, by the black tip to their tail. Here’s a photo of a stoat that was taken here last year by Roger Garland:
Now, I think I missed a week with my wildlife challenge, so this time there are 2 rather splendid birds for you to spot!
The sneaky snipe
Being beautifully camouflaged, snipe can be tricky to spot, but check carefully amongst the rushes and tussocks along the edges of pools. They are easy to overlook, but suddenly one will move and you’ll get your eye in. Winpenny hide has been the best spot to see them from over the past week or so.
Their beaks are about the same length as an adult finger and are just as sensitive – the tip is covered in nerve endings which helps them pick up movement in the ground and track down some tasty treats! Their great camouflage and erratic zig-zagging flight, made them a tricky target for wildfowlers, so anyone who managed to shoot a snipe became known as ‘a sniper’ – a title now awarded to skilled marksmen.
The regal raven
Sightings of the raven, the largest member of the crow family, are becoming more frequent here at Pulborough Brooks and across the South Downs. This powerful bird has a very large black bill, shaggy throat feathers, long wings with feathered ends and wedge-shaped tail. The best thing though is to listen for a wonderful ‘kronk, kronk, call as it flies over. This/these majestic birds are appearing almost daily – usually in the morning – and often within sight and sound of the visitor centre.
See if you can find both of these brilliant birds whilst exploring here or around the South Downs National Park in the next few weeks. And don't forget that if you take any pictures of wildlife or landscapes whilst you're out, you can enter them into our South Downs Futurescape photography competition.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/futurescapes/southdowns/photo-competition.aspx