Thanks to volunteer Phil for his sightings report and his photos.

Classical music lovers may recognise the allusion in my title to Frederick Delius’ music entitled “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring”.   The sound of the cuckoo is of course very evocative but is not representative of the arrival of our first migrant birds.  I always think the arrival of the chiffchaff signals the wave of summer visitors…

This Saturday we'll be playing host to a 'Growing up wild' event as part of a partnership between the RSPB and the Girlguiding association.  Over 100 brownies from local units will be joining us at the reserve to get involved with a range of activities designed to connect them with nature and help them discover our fabulous wildlife.

The reserve will of course be open for other visitors on Saturday but I wanted…

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos - Recent  Sightings Friday 10 March

After a short holiday I returned for my normal duties on Friday and opening the car door was immediately aware that air was filled with birdsong.  I picked out the sounds of robins, dunnocks, great tits and a few short snatches of blackbird song.  Down the Zigzag Path I could also hear blue tits, greenfinches and goldfinches, and later…

Thank you to Phil for his latest report and photos....

Recent  Sightings 13 and 17 February – More about Canada Geese

Anyone reading my article from last week will recall my speculation about the geese posting a lookout while the others are feeding. Following last Monday’s early morning WeBS count I was having a relaxing break at West Mead when a group of about 30 Canada Geese landed on the pool and I observed…

Thanks to volunteer Gary for getting up early, writing this report and taking the photos!

On a still dark Monday morning, we gathered for the monthly wetland bird survey (WeBS) for the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) – having been allocated Amberley Wildbrooks West, the longest muddiest walk (thanks guys), Celia and I set off.

Walking down the track from the village it was obvious that it was going to be…

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos - Recent  Sightings Friday 10 February

This was a day of unremitting gloom and drizzle with a significant wind chill to add to a general raw feel. 

With black tailed godwit numbers possibly on the increase (c200 reported on Tuesday 7^th), I struggled to find any in poor visibility.  It was barely possible to see Pulborough Church tower which is always a bad sign.  Eventually…

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos.

Recent sightings Friday 3^rd February – The effects of the weather

It is interesting to compare the state of Pulborough Brooks with the same time last year.  After a rather wet autumn in 2015 the Brooks on my return from the Christmas break looked like a lake.  By the end of January 2016 with the water receded a little and with the ground very wet we were treated…

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos and to volunteer John for his photos and contributions 

Recent Sightings Friday 27th January – Winter visitors from Siberia

The day started well with a little owl perching at the bottom of Upperton's field and viewed by many visitors from the warmth and comfort of the Visitor Centre using the display scopes in the shop, or outside by the pond. Closer views were…

Thanks to Gary for his puzzle, report and photos from one of last week's foggy days.....

Rearrange these words to form a popular saying – Hand, face, in front of, your, can’t see. It really didn’t help other volunteers saying it was clear south of Storrington. At Pulborough Brooks it was foggy until mid-morning when it begrudgingly cleared into a bright cold sunny day.

At a frozen West Mead a few…

Can you spot Wednesday’s bird of the day in this photo? This is by far my favourite garden bird, although it didn’t make the ‘Top 20’ list during last year’s Big Garden Birdwatch. I often refer to the nuthatch as the ‘bird-feeder bandit’ because that bold black stripe across the eye gives the impression this bird is trying hard not to be recognised. This paired with the steely-blue head and back, and custard yellow…

We’ve had lots of lovely photos submitted by the staff here at Pulborough including plenty rather rotund robins! However, today’s spotlight species accompanied by this lovely photo from Nikki Allen, is the great tit.

The clue is in the name with this bird, as it is the largest of the UK’s tit family. On occasion, it might be confused with the smaller blue tit but, aside from the size difference, the great…

Today's Big Garden Birdwatch photo from Nikki features the robin.

Although bird spotting has been rather tricky over the past few days due to all the mist and murk there has been no shortage of robin sightings -they seem to follow you around the trail as you explore!

If you have robins visiting your garden at the moment then you could be seeing both your resident robins who stay with you all year and perhaps…

Part 1 - The great spotted woodpecker

We're all looking forward to this weekend's Big Garden Birdwatch and this week, in preparation, we'll be honing our bird spotting and identification skills running our very own Pulborough Garden Birdwatch.

If you're popping into the Visitor Centre decide whether you're going to support our cafe team or our shop team...will you be able to help them add any birds to their…

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos.

Recent  Sightings 16^th and 20^th January – A week of extreme contrasts

On Monday 16^th at first light I joined a small team of staff and volunteers for the monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) count for our area of the Arun Valley   It was cold and drizzly but fortunately not much wind.  I had the pleasure of the company of our Site Manager, Julianne Evans, for the next…

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos

Recent Sightings Friday 6^th January 

 On my first visit of 2017 there was no sign of the fog promised by the BBC forecast.  Instead emerging from the Visitor Centre a frosty prospect presented itself over a frozen pond, the Brooks and River Arun.  

The Brooks looked just as frozen as the pond and I reflected on the possibility of some unusual sightings because birds…

We've just had a report from our volunteers to say that 9 Bewick's swans have flown in to roost on the North Brooks - this is the highest count so far this winter at Pulborough Brooks.

It's a little more murky at the moment than suggested by the lovely photo from volunteer Chris Prince - I'll have to admit that it wasn't taken today though!

Plenty of other wintery wildlife has been seen here…

Monday morning's Wetland Bird Survey was notable for the number of lapwing on site, creating the wonderful spectacle of clouds of lapwings taking to the sky as the peregrine or marsh harrier flew nearby.  

Volunteer Phil sent in this photo of one of those moments - your challenge is to find and identify the other species of birds within the lapwing flock. I've spotted two so far!

Across the site nearly four…

I'm sure that many of you have been watching the latest series of Planet Earth and will have seen the fabulous footage of hunting peregrine.  Well, you don't have to go anywhere so far flung or exotic to witness that very spectacle - just watch from Hanger View!

One of our volunteers, Graham, managed to take this incredible series of photos on Sunday when 'our' peregrine successfully caught a teal. Having caught…

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his sightings update

Recent Sightings Friday 9 December – Egrets and Golden Plovers

There was certainly a dramatic change in the weather since my visit last Friday.  The hard overnight frosts had been replaced by a mild southerly breeze and ice had turned back to open water.  A very murky journey to Pulborough in the morning turned into a bright day with just a hint of mistiness around…

The cold weather seems to have brought out the exhibitionist streak in some of our snipe. Usually so tricky to spot, the snipe have been skating on the ice outside of West Mead and Winpenny hides!

Thanks to volunteer Graham Osborne for the charming photo.

Thanks to Gary for this week's sightings and photos

What a sparkling cold day at Pulborough Brooks. The white frost persisting all day in sheltered spots and most water was covered in a layer of ice.

The most notable bird of the day was the robin, I'm sure they were passing the baton to one another as one seemed next to us for the whole day! As well as the reed buntings and bullfinches, which have been a regular…

Recent Sightings Friday 18 November – First day of Winter! From volunteer Phil

A bright start gave way to grey skies for most of the morning with a biting cold wind from the south west followed by a sunny afternoon.  For most of the day it felt like winter, but of course winter is arguably the best season for birding here. This is the time of year when we see large numbers of wintering wildfowl and waders taking…

Thanks to volunteer Gary for his report and photos.

It was much warmer than I expected, so I shed a few layers before setting off today. It was so warm a dragonfly and peacock butterfly were seen – amazing for mid-November. It was nice to see that the recent rain has put some water back in front of West Mead and the efforts of the wardens have been successful in wetting parts of the South Brooks. The peregrine fodder…

A beautiful sunny day tempted plenty of people out onto the reserve to look for lovely wildlife and many were rewarded with sightings of a splendid selection of wintery birds.

What follows is a collection of sightings (I didn’t manage to get out myself)reported by visitors and volunteers.

The first report to come in was the exciting news that ‘our’ little owl was happily sunning itself along the hedgerow near…

Thanks to volunteer Gary for his report and photos.

A very frosty, still and sunny start to the day, but becoming cloudy later. Once again, the trees on the left side of the zigzag path had a large flock of goldfinches and three bullfinches, and further down a group of reed buntings were posing in the sunshine flicking their tails to attract attention. I looked in vain for the little owl, but it was seen by others later…