It is certainly feeling more autumnal now so it's an ideal time to get out into the countryside to take some stunning photos of autumn colour and beautiful sunsets. 

We'll be joined by local landscape & wildlife photographer John Dominick on Sunday 4 November for our photography workshop.  John has been taking photographs for 20 years and has had his work published widely in various books and magazines, as well…

I hope that you've all been enjoying our fungi trail this autumn and have been learning to distinguish between puffballs & earthballs and bonnets from brittlegills!

To those of you who came along to our guided walks this season, as promised, here are the species lists:

Species

English Name

7^th October

16^th October

 

 

 

 

Boletes

 

 

 

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Volunteer Phil has been admiring the hornets and has shared his musings, research and photos...

There has been much talk on the reserve by visitors, staff and volunteers about how many hornets can be seen this autumn. This has prompted to me to wonder why I rarely see hornets anywhere else. Here are my musings on the subject although please be aware that I am no expert.   Everything here represents my own observations…

If you enjoy watching the birds in your garden, now is the time to stock up on bird food as we've got a special offer on the 12.75 kg sacks of bird food.

You can claim a 20% discount on all of the large sacks including all of the our seed varieties and our peanuts - we'll even help you out to the car with it!

Sunflower seed mixes are popular with a wide range of garden birds - including the lovely nuthatch…

It was a delightful morning for our fungi walk yesterday - the early mist disappeared and the sun came out. The leaves are starting to turn golden and fairytale fly agaric toadstools are popping up to brighten up the damp, dark places with their jewel-like colours. And all of the grasses and brambles were adorned with dew-covered spider’s webs.

Photo by Phil Thornton

I can’t help but admire the beauty of the…

We're welcoming volunteer Phil back to our blog with his report from – Friday 21st September

Back on Hides and Trails duty after an absence of several weeks a number of conversations with visitors started with the comment “its very quiet today”. And perhaps to the untrained eye that’s what it seemed. And yet at the end of the day I recounted many interesting tales of what I’d seen to staff back at the Visitor…

This is one of my favourite times of year to wander around our wooded heath and I’m sure you will all share my admiration for the glorious colours as the leaves turn golden and begin to fall from the trees. But this year I’m going to suggest that you look for a whole rainbow of colours as you explore the woodland…we’re going to be discovering fungi!

I've just been out to set up our fungi trail…

If you’re running low on bird seed or are thinking about coming in to get your Christmas cards soon, please be aware that, on Thursday 27 September, our shop will be shutting at 2 pm so that the retail team can carry out a full stock take. Everything we sell must be counted individually which is going to take quite a while to complete, so we’re closing a couple of hours early to avoid the staff having to count too late…

We'd like to invite you to a very special weekend event that celebrates the beauty of our local flora and fauna through the art of photography. From Saturday 6 to Sunday 7 October, the yurt in our Wildlife Explorer Meadow will be transformed into an exhibition space filled with wonderful wildlife and landscape photographs taken by local photographers John Dominick and Matt Gould.

Amberley Brooks - John Dominic…

We’re celebrating the arrival of autumn here at Pulborough Brooks and our fabulous catering manager Liz has been making the most of the abundant fruit on the reserve. She's been testing out a new recipe of apple and blackberry sponge cake and today our volunteer workparty were the lucky taste-testers. A light, moist sponge topped with blackberries and sliced apples picked only meters away from the visitor centre, this…

Winpenny hide will be closed to the public from Friday 14^th to Monday 17^th September while essential improvements works are carried out.

We are always looking for ways to improve the accessibility of our nature reserve, so that more people are able to enjoy its wonderful wildlife. Winpenny is the first of our hides to undergo alterations that will allow wheelchair users to gain access and get closer to nature. Earlier…

For the first time in a while, I took a walk around the wetland trail yesterday and I was absolutely amazed by the amount of berries that are hanging on the trees. It was noticeable as soon as I stepped out of the visitor centre, with a beautiful spindle tree showing off its vibrant pink berries just behind the building. Incidentally, the spindle is my favourite berry perhaps because it dares to be different from the…

The summer holidays have come to an end and we are welcoming in a new season and new month. I don't dare say the C-word just yet (it's still feeling pretty warm out there), but some of you more organised folk may have already started thinking about buying gifts for your loved ones. For those fans of wildlife and the great outdoors, a pair of binoculars makes a very thoughtful gift that will last for many years. Of course…

After the relentless sunshine and heat of July the weather is now starting to feel a little autumnal and our wildlife certainly seems to think that it's time to be on the move or to be preparing for the winter ahead.

Emily reported on the selection of wading birds that are now appearing on the edges of the pools, especially on the North Brooks, stopping off to rest and re-fuel on their southwards migration.  Today…

If you visited us in the early months of the year you may have noticed small pieces of string adorning some of the blackthorn bushes around the nature trail.  These were marking the locations of brown hairstreak butterfly eggs found during our annual survey.

These beautiful, but rather elusive butterflies, lay their eggs in the fork of a blackthorn twig, favouring the junction between old and new growth. Another good…

Over the next month or so we’ll be undertaking some habitat management work out on the wetlands. So if you see people or machinery out on the brooks, this might explain what they’re up to….

Creation of ditch spurs

This is a continuation of the work done last summer/early autumn as part of the Back from the Brink project to benefit our rare Little Whirlpool Ramshorn Snails (Anisus vorticulus). To enable…

It isn’t news to any of us that this summer has been HOT! Here at Pulborough, we’ve watched the grassy brooks turn brown, the trees drop their leaves prematurely and the small pools of water out on the brooks dry up to almost nothing. Of course, for a wetland reserve with wading birds on site all year round, it isn’t great to be without water, but we have managed to retain a small amount on the North Brooks by opening…

If you’re in the market for new bins, it’s a good idea to get yourself down to the Pulborough Brooks visitor centre, where we are currently offering £50 off the price of any RSPB WPG binoculars.

The WPG range sits neatly in the middle of our full optics selection and is an excellent choice if you’re looking for something lightweight and suitable for general travel and leisure. The 2m close focus mean…

At this time of year it is the insects that take centre stage on the nature reserve and we’re a great place to look for and admire a wide range of butterfly species. Of the 58 species that breed in the UK, you could see 31 of them here – albeit not on the same visit.

In the courtyard garden around the Visitor Centre check out the buddleia, you should see Red Admirals, Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells.

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There's so much for Wild Families to see and do this summer at Pulborough Brooks! 

As you explore the trail, why not take part in our Summer Scavenger Hunt? It's a great way to get closer to nature, have fun and practice your photography skills. We're challenging you to see how many photos you can take of things on the Summer Scavenger prompt sheet, and if you send us your favourite photo, you'll be entered into our…

Located within the Arun Valley in West Sussex, Pulborough Brooks has beautiful views across to the South Downs and is set in one of the richest areas for nature in the country. The nature reserve has a great variety of habitats and is home to some wonderful wildlife. The visitor centre has fantastic views across the wetlands, a wonderful backdrop as you browse the shop or enjoy a slice of cake in the cafe.

This summer…

Lapwing (Photo: Chris Prince)

It’s always a nice feeling when your hard work pays off. Each year, our reserve team dedicates a large chunk of their time to managing the wetlands for our priority wader species – lapwing and redshank. Both species are very particular about where they like to nest and to make it even trickier; they both want different things! Lapwings look to lay their eggs in areas of short vegetation…

At this time of year it can seem rather quiet on the reserve on the bird front. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of birds out and about, it's just that they're pretty good at hiding amongst the somewhat rampant vegetation!

So my focus in the summer tends to move towards the incredible invertebrates that we find on the reserve and this year I've developed a fondness for spiders. Not all spiders, I'm…

It looks set to be a successful year for our breeding waders with plenty of 'bundles of joy' being seen out on the reserve, particularly from West Mead and Winpenny hides - look for both lapwing and redshank chicks around the edges of the pools.  We've been working hard to manage the habitat on site to keep it in tip top condition for these special birds and also to protect them from predators and disturbance …

Azure Damselfly by Matt Gould

This Saturday (2^nd June) we’ll be opening up our new wetland discovery trail and hosting a very special ‘Back from the Brink’ wetland discovery day.

 We’ve designed our new seasonal trail so that you can feel more immersed in the wetland habitat that is so important for wildlife here at Pulborough Brooks. You’ll be able to get much closer to the ditches that criss-cross…