With thanks to volunteer Graham for his report and photos from this weekend.
The weather was mild and dry at Pulborough Brooks on Sunday, and occasionally the sun briefly broke through the clouds. My first stop was Fattengates Courtyard, where I put out some seed. Numerous birds immediately flew in to claim their share. Visitors included Great Tit and Blue Tit, Chaffinch and even a sleek-looking Carrion Crow.
Moving on to West Mead I entered the hide to find a few visitors and also fellow volunteer Gary, who informed me that one of our regular visiting White-tailed Eagles was in its favourite tall tree. It was showing well, and it stayed there for some time enabling me to share scoped views of it with a number of visitors. At one point the tree was briefly bathed in sunlight, and this greatly improved the visibility of the eagle and its brilliant white tail.
Other raptors on view included a Common Buzzard on a post, up to four Red Kites in the sky, and a Marsh Harrier which flew briefly at some distance before disappearing. When I looked again at the tall tree I saw that the eagle had also disappeared, and I did not see it again at all during the day. However, I was pleased to be told by a visitor later on that they had enjoyed very good views of it at close range. I continued on to Winpenny Hide, from where I had reasonably good views of a Red Kite.
A couple of Skylarks flew onto one of the islands, one showing well out in the open.
After about half an hour I started on my way towards the North Brooks. I stopped briefly at Hanger View and then continued on to the hairpin bend viewpoint. From there I was able to pick out a single Ruff among a large group of feeding Black-tailed Godwits. I shared scoped views of these with a couple of visitors before moving on to Nettley’s Hide where there were several other visitors. I spent a few minutes trying to track down the Ruff I had found when we were joined by regular visitor and photographer Mike, who informed us that a Peregrine was in one of the tall Willow trees. It was facing away from us, but could be seen clearly in my scope. One of the visitors said that a Kingfisher had dropped in briefly during the morning, but it did not return while I was there. As the Peregrine had not moved I decided to try to replicate a photo that Mike had taken of it from near Little Hanger hide. Here is my partially obscured effort.
After that I continued to re-trace my steps back towards Winpenny Hide. Before I reached the hide I was distracted by a pair of Stonechats flitting about near the path. In the end I spent some time photographing them as they moved closer to Redstart Corner.
A few visitors also passed by, getting good views of the Stonechats. Other birds in the vicinity that I did not manage to photograph were some Meadow Pipits and a wintering Chiffchaff. I did however succeed in getting a few shots of some Goldfinches, including one that was nicely backlit for just a few seconds when the sunlight burst through a gap in the clouds.
Before moving on I noticed a cock Pheasant keeping a low profile in the adjacent field.
I finished another satisfying day at Pulborough Brooks in West Mead Hide, from where the last of the afternoon sun lit up the trees beyond the river to the southwest.