Recent Sightings Friday 9th December – Winter winding down? - Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report & sightings
On a day with one of the most ferocious wind chills I can recall at Pulborough Brooks it certainly didn’t feel like winter was coming to an end, but with just 20 days to go until the first official day of spring somehow there didn’t seem to be anything like the same large numbers of wildfowl and waders. This was most noticeable with our usual duck species, which could be found easily enough but not in such concentrated groups.
In the morning I had a good start on the Zigzag Path by spotting a distant hawfinch though my scope. This was in the top of a tall tree by the public footpath going between the bottom of Green Lane and Wiggonholt Church and was consistent with all other recent sightings which are coming from that area. Given the unusual nature of the hawfinch influx this winter it is hard to predict what will happen to them when spring arrives. There was a reference on BBC Winterwatch to this recently which advanced the theory that most of the hawfinches had been blown in from Southern Europe in a big storm. That does beg the question about whether they will be able to find their way back, although one should never underestimate the ability of birds to find their way around the world.
There is a period between winter and spring when the reserve can seem rather flat, with wintering wildfowl and wader numbers dropping before the arrival of spring migrants. We are just starting to come into this period now and I often find this to be a good time to re-connect with our common resident species to which we often pay too little attention. So on the approach path to West Mead I found myself photographing a blackbird which seemed curiously unconcerned by my presence just a few feet away.
Later, near the Hanger, a grey squirrel seemed similarly unconcerned and I felt very envious of its fur coat.
Arriving at Winpenny I discovered from some of our regular Friday birders that the Temminck’s stint had moved to the South Brooks and could be seen through a scope along the edge of a distant flood pool near the riverbank. As ever it was too distant to photograph but I discovered from the same birders, who had been the first to identify the stint, that it had been photographed from West Mead on 9th December. This had enabled an official record to be accepted about 2 weeks after it had first been seen.
Also at Winpenny there were good views of snipe in what seems to have become a favourite spot by some rushes to the right from the hide about 20 yards away, and a marsh harrier was seen in the distance near the riverbank with markings suggesting it was a juvenile male. In the afternoon a peregrine was seen taking a teal.
Later while at Nettley’s Hide I had a much rarer sighting when a ringtail hen harrier being mobbed by crows flew west over the North Brooks in the direction of Winpenny, where it afforded excellent views. It is by no means impossible that this is the same bird that I reported on more extensively after it turned up on 24th November under the title “A very special moorland visitor” so for more information please visit this page.
https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/placestovisit/pulboroughbrooks/b/pulboroughbrooks-blog/archive/2017/11/27/a-very-special-moorland-visitor.aspx
For a few days this week I have been debating with a colleague as to whether the black tailed godwits might have departed on the long journey to their breeding grounds in Iceland. A brief glimpse of them by one of our volunteers early on Tuesday was followed by a complete failure to find any, until a clue appeared on the Sussex Ornithological Society Website Recent Sightings page in a report suggesting they could be found on flood meadows on the other side of the Arun. That would represent a very short migration in a south westerly direction!
Before I saw this report I had checked my photographic record and discovered that in past years I had not previously taken any photos of black tailed godwits after the first week in February, suggesting that it might well be time for them to move on. However I can report that we still had the godwits on Friday and from Nettley’s Hide I was able to photograph a large flock flying in front of Pulborough Church.
They had clearly moved back to the North Brooks, albeit in a somewhat different position to where I’d seen them in previous weeks. They seemed rather restless and keen to be feeding out on the distant grassy areas, but did spend a little time in their favourite resting place just beyond the prominent east to west bar dividing the main flood pools on the North Brooks.
I estimated there to be about 700 birds which is consistent with numbers in recent weeks. However I now understand from our warden that the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) February figures for the last 3 years have consistently shown a marked drop in numbers, so I predict that come next Friday we will be seeing considerably less godwits on the reserve. Given the very cold weather and prevalence of northerly winds this might seem surprising, but a long-term study of Icelandic godwits has established that birds arrive back on their breeding grounds always within a very short date window of about 3 days. This means that the timing of departure is most likely to be driven by the longer hours of daylight rather than the weather.
Later in the afternoon I attempted a brisk walk back to the Visitor Centre feeling the need of hot drinks but my progress up the Zigzag Path was arrested by my first and only redwing of the day perched at the top of one of the nearby trees with the low sun beautifully highlighting its plumage.
It probably will not be long before redwings and fieldfares start to move back to Scandinavia.
On arrival back at the Visitor Centre my progress to the café was once again stopped by a sparrowhawk perched on a fence just yards from the big window in reception.
Its rather small size made me wonder if it could be a merlin. However Julianne, our site manager, reminded me that male sparrowhawks are considerably smaller than females. My bird books confirm that there is a small size range overlap with the generally smaller merlin but they also show different barring patterns for the tail feathers. So this appears to be a male sparrowhawk probably juvenile. It stayed for several minutes causing much interest to staff, volunteers and visitors.