It’s been a bit of quiet weekend for wildlife. The usual suspects were about although no sign of the garganey or two avocets, and the nightingales appear to have gone completely quiet. The female adder continues to entertain at the mini-beast mansion and we now have lapwing and redshank chicks down at West Mead.

(Female adder - Catherine Coyle, May 2018)

On Sunday, we held one of our popular Macro Photography…

If the forecast is to be believed, it looks as if we’re set for another weekend of sun. As well as keeping us all in good spirits, this is guaranteed to mean plenty of invertebrate activity on the reserve. On Tuesday, volunteer Gary managed to get shots of a couple of lovely beetles; the double-banded longhorn beetle and the red-tipped flower beetle.

Double-banded longhorn beetle (Gary Trew 2018)

Red-tipped…

Although a little late in the year, it would seem spring has definitely sprung! This spell of beautiful, warm weather we’ve been experiencing has caused an eruption of green on the reserve, with fresh vegetation sprouting everywhere you turn. While this does make watching the birds quite tricky, happily there are plenty of other creatures that have been keeping us occupied here at Pulborough.

On a trip out on to…

Many of you will have heard that we've had a lovely family of tawny owls nesting in the trees on the reserve.  The two youngsters started branching (coming out of the nest hole and clambering around the nearby trees) a week or so ago with the watchful adult nearby.

It has been fantastic to show these wonderful birds to people but to ensure that we're minimising the disturbance we have made the decision to close the…

I thought I'd do this wildlife sightings update in the form of a series of photos...not all taken this year but featuring fabulous creatures that have been out enjoying the sunshine over the past few days...

Let's start with the songbirds...the favourite spots being Fattengates Courtyard and Hanger View

Nightingale - photo by Gareth Hughes

Chiffchaff by Graham Osborne

Common whitethroat by Chris Pri…

This year we’ve started a project to photograph and identify our adders and find out a bit more about these fascinating creatures. Every adder has a unique pattern on the back of its head, although some are a little more distinctive than others, and we're trying to gather photos of each individual and create a 'passport' highlighting their distinguishing features. By recognising them individually we can start to learn…

A nice selection of waders on the North Brooks this morning.  From Hanger View we had lovely views of the black-winged stilt, two avocets, black-tailed godwit, redshank and little ringed plover.  It was rumoured that a common sandpiper was present too.

Photo by Emily Summers

Nightingales singing well at both Fattengates and Hanger, a mobile cuckoo and my first swifts of the year over the North Brooks.

Despite it being…

I’ve been burning the candle from both ends this last week with an early morning breeding bird survey (BBS), our first night-time safari on the year, and 4 am start for our dawn chorus walk. But the arrival of our summer migrants, blooming wildflowers, basking reptiles and the first glimpses of butterflies & dragonflies certainly help make up for the lack of sleep!

My BBS ‘patch’ is Black Wood and the heath…

Tree surgeons will be on site on Wednesday 18 April undertaking important tree safety work.

The section of the nature trail between Little Hanger Hide and ‘Hairstreak corner’ will be closed during the morning whilst this work is carried out. This means that you will not be able to use Hanger View and will not be able to complete the circular loop around the wetland trail for a couple of hours. Nettley’s Hide and Jupp…

Surely it must be spring soon...after all we've had our first swallow sighting of the year!

Everything at Pulborough Brooks is rather squelchy at the moment, and today's rainfall has certainly not improved the situation.  Nevertheless, some of our wildlife seems determined to get started...

Chiffchaffs have now arrived in force and can be heard chiff-chaffing all the way around the trail - the challenge is to…

At last...some warm and sunny spring days!

Although our wetlands are still rather wet on the higher ground some of our springtime creatures have emerged and others arrived and we're delighted to see them...

Adder alley male - Graham Osborne

At least 9, possibly 10, adders were out and about sunbathing on Sunday and entertaining visitors on both adder alley and rather aptly on the zig zag path. One of them seems…

Some of you may know that a woodlark has been heard regularly singing over the central part of the heath over the past month…well, now we have a pair!  Woodlark is one of our target species for heathland management so we're absolutely thrilled that they seem to appreciate the hard work we've all been doing over the winter.  We are hoping that they will nest here and are most likely to use the newly cleared…

The natural world in spring time is filled with colour and new life; ideal for blowing away the cobwebs left behind by the long, bleak winter period. At Pulborough Brooks, we’re inviting you to celebrate the arrival of spring with us by getting out in the great outdoors and discovering what wildlife we are giving a home to on the reserve.

(Photo: Ben Andrews/RSPB Images)

Something for all ages at Pulborough…

Our spring events have been very popular and many have booked up fast, which is fantastic! 

The good news is, four spaces have recently become available on our "Night-time Safari - a watch of nightingales" event running on Thursday 19 April. This is a great opportunity to witness the spectacle of the nightingale's evening concert, as well as to experience the other sights and sounds of Pulborough Brooks at night. We'll…

Recent Sightings 16-23^rd February  Siberian Winter follows Spring - thanks to volunteer Phil for his report & photos

A fine and rather spring like day on Friday 16^th was followed by a damp mild and drizzly one on Monday 19^th when I attended for the monthly WeBS count.  However by Friday 23^rd a bitter north easterly breeze had set in which the forecasters assure us is the start of a cold snap from Siberia.

Despite…

Over the next month or so, there’s going to be a lot of activity out on the South Brooks and close to West Mead hide.  As the water levels drop (hopefully) we’ll be starting to prepare for the breeding wader season and doing everything we can to ensure the success of our lapwings and redshank.

The fencing we’ve trialled over the past few years has proved to be successful in increasing lapwing productivity…

Recent Sightings Friday 9^th 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…

It's not just us feeling romantic this week, our garden birds are starting to feel like spring is in the air too...

We're starting to hear more bird song on the reserve - woodpecker's are drumming

(Great spotted woodpecker - Chris Prince)

I've heard the song thrush with his repetitive song "Did he do it, did he do it, did he do it? Yes he did, yes he did, yes he did"

(Song thrush - Anne…

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos - Recent Sightings Friday 2^nd February  

It has been just a few weeks since the New Year, but spring is now less than a month away.  There are a few hints of it already around the reserve with daffodils out in the Visitor Centre garden and bluebell shoots coming up in Black Wood.  This means that there are only a few weeks left to enjoy the best of our wintering wildfowl…

Thanks to volunteer Gary for this feature on the different geese that can be found at Pulborough Brooks

There often seems to be some confusion over the geese (and to a lesser degree the ducks) at Pulborough Brooks. The vast majority of geese here at Pulborough are feral Greylag Anser anser, which is Latin for – yep, you have to hand it to the scientists – Goose goose, and Canada Goose Branta canadensis meaning…

On Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 January, our reserve team will be doing some tree-felling and scrub clearance along the fence line adjacent to West Mead hide. Please be aware that the hide will be closed while this important work is carried out.

Lapwing (Chris Prince)

Lapwing chick (Anne Harwood)

This is one of our primary areas for breeding waders (lapwing & redshank); if you visit us during the breeding season, you…

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos!

Recent Sightings Weds 17^th and Friday 19^th January   

On Wednesday I joined a large group of volunteers and staff on the annual brown hairstreak egg hunt.   This is a vital activity for reserve management to provide information on where these very scarce butterflies are laying their eggs so that hedgerow management can be undertaken in the most effective way.

Brown hairstreaks…

It’s almost time for you to take part in the world’s largest wildlife survey…the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. It is a great excuse to watch your garden birds whilst helping to collect incredibly helpful information on how our birds are doing.

For nearly 40 years, we've been asking you to count the birds in your garden – and you've been brilliant at it. With over half a million people now regularly…

Recent Sightings Friday 12^th January   - thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos

The most remarkable sight of a cold grey and sometimes rather misty day was the drop in water level on the Brooks over the course of a week.  Readers may recall my photo of the depth gauge outside Nettley’s Hide from last Friday (5^th) which was not far from being completely submerged.   This photo shows the gauge on Friday some…

Over the next month or so, the main focus of our habitat management work will be hedgerows and scrub management.  In some areas this will involve cutting scrub back, hedge-laying and coppicing and in others, we’ll be planting new hedgerows.  Whilst the work is being done there could be some disruption & disturbance, and it can look a little messy until we start getting some new growth in the spring, but rest assured…